Seal of Stars: Light of The Zodiac
by Gatecrasher12
Summary: A Holy War between the mythical Gods of Greece. The cloths of the stars and the Saints who wear them. What does Sakura have to do with any of it? The first Saint Seiya crossover ever! Contains Mild Yaoi.
1. Magical Zodiac Part 1

_**Magical Zodiac**_

Her world was dark.

She laided there on what felt like solid ground but she knew if she looked she would see nothing but vast blackess. She stared into an endless void of nothingness waiting for something but not knowing what she waited for.

However this utter darkness didn't last. She blinked when the familliar object floated out of nowhere, falling in a flutter in front of her. Reaching out Kinomoto Sakura took hold of the lone Sakura Card as it slipped into her hand obediently.

_-Windy?-_ Sakura gave the card a curious look.

More of her cards began to fall around her like pink and gold flower peddels dancing in the wind. Then the world changed as a different scene faded in.

Looking around Sakura found herself lying on the floor of a large room within an ancient yet well maintained looking temple. There were draps and tapestries hanging in the windows and ceiling and a long red carpet stretching from one end of the room to the other. The room was half lit only by the flames of tourches that lined the walls.

Sakura stood up slowly without realizing she made herself do that, her body seemed to be on autopilot in this dream. Though for the most part she lacked control of her body, the sorceress looked around at her surroundings, more so at the walls. She could make out old Geek texts and fading murals. Sadly she couldn't read a word of what was writen, however the pictures showed stories of powerful warring gods, massive armies of young men in armors fighting under each god, and what looked like the world surrounded by the many constillations hovering in the center of it all.

_-What is all of this?- _the brunette asked herself. _-There's noway this could be a regular dream.-_

Sakura jumped when two grand gold basins filled with fire suddenly jumped to life. She turned to see standing at the once darkened end of the room was a tall white marble bust of a woman in flowing robes atop a raised platform. In her left hand she held a staff longer than she was tall with a circular bird-like head ornament at the top and her right hand kept a large round sheild that came up to her waist standing strait at her side. At her feet were eighty-eight aesthetic coffers lined in three rising rows; out of seventy-six silver coffers, thirty took up the bottom row, and fourty-six coffers in the middle. At the top row were twelve gold coffers. Each box had pictures of mythical creatures and people engraved in them.

Suddenly, her magical circle flared to life and her Key of Sealing transformed into its wand form. This baffled Sakura to no end seeing as her body had called on her magic without her mind's concent. Her confusion didn't last long as she felt a powerful and consuming presence behind her. Without hesitation, Sakura felt her body whirl around to face the being who snuck up on her. Apperently her body seemed to know what her mind didn't.

Sakura found herself staring up at young man a little older looking than her in a flowing red cloak with a gold mantle decoratng his shoulders. Long red-orange hair fell strait down his back and over his shoulders. Equally red-orange eye stared down coldly in narrowed slits. Sakura could easily see blood-lust and love of battle in the mans eyes.

"You have something I require... Give it to me... " the newcomer ordered and began to reach for her. Sakura stepped back defensively.

Behind her, five of the dormant coffers on the bottom row, the ones that had a pegasus, a dragon, a swan, and woman wrapped in chains, and a phoenix, and the top twelve gold coffers with images of the zodiac began to creak open, bathing the room in pale blue, green, white, magneta, red, and gold respectively.

Before Sakura could see what was inside the boxes or put any thought into what was happening, the world around her blurred back into nothingness.

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"SAKURAAAA!!"

"Ack!" Sakura fell out of bed out of suprise when a small yet high pitched voice screeched out her name in her ear followed by her alarm clock suddenly dropped out of the air and landed on her head.

Kero hovered with crossed arms... er paws.. in the air as he looked down at the young teenage Card Mistress who was now sprawled out on the floor. The yellow guardian beast sighed. It had been three, nearly four, years so far since he met her. Sakura had went from a struggling ten year old novice sorceress to a powerful and well known one among the few other known magic users, and still the girl had problems waking up on time! Kero had a sneaking suspicion that this particular trait would carry over into her adult years too.

"Hoee, Kero-chan," Sakura gave a pained whine as she stood, rubbing her sore rear end. "Why'd you do that?!" she demanded, annoyance and anger clearly etched on her face.

Kero grunted. "Because you're always late when you oversleep and if you don't hurry up you _will_ be late."

The green eyed brunette blinked curiously. "Late for what? It's the weekend, I don't have to go anywhere."

Kero smacked his forehead before dragging his paw down his face in disbeliefe. He then flew over to her desk, picked up her calander then flew back over to her. He pointed to the date, June seventh, circled in red marker ink with the word TRIP writen in big bold letters. "Didn't you say you had a two week out-of-country class trip to Greece today? It's already seven fouty-eight, you're supposed to be at school in the next twelve minutes!"

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In the kitchen Kinomoto Fujitaka peeked out of the refrigerator and chucked to himself when a loud "HOOEEEEEEEE!!" followed by equally loud crashng shook the house and scared away the birds that perched in the nearby trees. The father of two pulled out a small on-the-go bottle of orange juice and cream cheese just as the toaster popped out two halves of a bagle.

From in the living room Kinomoto Toya however sighed in exasperation while Tsukishiro Yukito, who had come over to see Sakura off, smiled and laughed to himself.

"One of these days she's gonna hurt herself getting out of bed like that."

Yukito's smile never wavered. "She'll be okay. But I wonder what Greece would be like. I heard the pasta they make is some of the best after the Italians. I hope she'll bring back some nice souviners."

"I'm still not sure she should go. It's too far away." the dark haired man griped at his lover.

The pale young man laughed. "My other self completely agrees. He's very unsettled with Sakura going so far away from him. But you shouldn't worry, Kero-chan will be with her. He is one of her guardians after all."

"Is that gluttonous stuffed animal even that much reliable?"

Yukito shrugged while inside Yue gave a definent "No" answer.

Toya grunted. "At least theres one upside to her going on this trip."

"What's that?"

The older Kinomoto smirked smuggly and said, "The Brat won't be there because he's in Hong Kong."

The mortal half of Sakura's moon guardian sighed.

"Well, I'm gonna go get her stuff in the car." Toya said as he put down the magazine he'd been reading and stood up from his seat on the couch with Yukito right behind him. As they walked past the kitchen and to the front door Toya called to his dad, "I'll take Sakura to school so she wont be late." He slipped on his sneakers, grabbed the car keys, and then hefted up one of Sakura's two bags as Yukito grabbed the other that had been left near the door the day before and walked outside.

Fujitaka nodded and was just finishing spreading cream cheese on the baggle when his youngest came half running half tumbling down the staires while trying to comb out her bed hair with her fingers. She had managed to save herself from a face plant at the last moment before rubbing out the small wrinkles in her pale blue sundress and hiked up the strap of her small yellow purse higher on her shoulder. She quickly scurried into the kitchen for anything she could eat on her way out.

"Ohiyo, tou-san!" Sakura stopped in font of her mother's picture and greeted it much less franticly. "Ohiyo, ka-san." When she turned her father was standing in front of her.

"Ohiyo, Sakura-chan," He greeted back. Fuitaka then placed a bento, a wrapped bagle and a bottle of orange juice in her hands. "Here's a light breakfast and a lunch. Eat the bagle on your way to school and the bento on the plane."

"Hai!"

"Do you have you passport?"

Sakura pulled a little blue booklet out of her bag with PASSPORT in big gold letters across it and showed it to him. "Hai, tou-san!" She stuffed her passport back into her bag.

"Emergency information?"

"Hai!"

"Emergency credit card?"

"Hai-"

"Oi, kaiju!" Toya's irratated voice called. "Step on it or everyone's gonna leave you behind!"

A vein popped out on Sakura's forehead. "Kaiju yuuna!" she called back before turning to give her dad a good-bye hug. "I'll call as soon as we land, tou-san. I'll see you real soon, okay?"

"Hai, hai, take care, Sakura-chan!"

"I will, ja ne!" With that the seventeen year old bolted for the door, an excited smile stretched across her face.

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Sakura smiled grandly as she idlely watched airplanes take off and land through the large airport windows. Toya had just barely managed to get her to school on time just as her class was walking to the charter bus that would take them to the airport. He had unceremoniously chucked her bags into the storage compartment of the bus, Yukito was much more gentler with her things. Toya muttered a quick good bye and Yukito gave her a hug and told her to take care and to call, then the two left her with her friends.

Tomoyo giggled gleefully. "I'm so excited!" She exclaimed yet still somehow managing to keep her voice soft. "I hope I can get some good shots of the city." she said pulling out her video camera.

Kero's head popped out of Sakura's purse. "Yeah, I'm pretty excited too. I've never been that far west before so I've never tried some of the foods over there."

"Is food all you think of?" Sakura asked

The girl never got an answer because a that moment the PA system above suddenly dinged and a female voice sounded, "_**ALL PASSENGERS FOR FLIGHT 9W283 TO ATHENS, GREECE PLEASE REPORT TO GATE 39E. YOUR FLIGHT IS NOW BOARDING.**_"

"That's us!" The teacher called. "Everyone get your things and make sure you don't leave anything behind!"

As the group prepared to board the plane, Yamazaki launched into another one of his bogus stories on why airplanes were called airplanes. Sakura gave him her rapted attention almost instantly. Chiharu, who was as always at his side, glared before she wrapped her fingers around his neck and shook him in an attempt to make him stop lying. But because she was holding up the line she stopped and simply dragged him off into the plane by the back of his collar, Takashi still narrorating his highly detailed fabricated story. Rika and Naoko shook their heads as they followed close behing the two.

"So his story was another lie?" Sakura mused aloud.

Tomoyo smile at her second cousin. Sakura was just as cute she was gullible.

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**Hello everyone, thanks for reading my fic! I've never writen a Saint Seiya/Cardcaptor Sakura fic before so I'm glad I could start one. Ya know, I seem to have a knack for writing the first or second unexpected crossover fics. I've been told that ya know. I think I'm unintentionally starting some kind of trend here. I got the idea when I was reading a CCS fic while I was listening to my RADIO.BLOG.CLUB musics. Saint Seiya music had been playing at the time so I was like "What the hell, I'll start writing a fic." so yeah, this is a 'on the whim story'.**

**I know this chapter might be a little boring, but don't worry it'll get better... eventually. Well, anyway, I have other stuff to write and I'll update when I can. Remember, reviews is the coffee that keeps me up writing to the crack of dawn so update. See ya!**


	2. Magical Zodiac Part 2

_**Magical Zodiac Part 2**_

Within the confines of Sanctuary, one Kido Saori sat patiently on her throne-like seat. Sanctuary had become deathly silent and disturbingly cold ever since the fight against Hades. It had been a little over three years since she and her Saints ventured into the Underworld. It had been a little over three years since she lost all of her Gold Saints and Seiya, her most favored Saint, had been nearly killed and fell into a state of coma.

The remaining Saints in Santuary had lost a great deal of moral and were just barely making it through the day.

Shiryu had gone back to the peaks of Rozon to mourn the loss of his master with Shunrei. Shun had taken it apon himself to handle the affairs of the Graude Foundation in Saori's absence with the Steel Saints helping whenever they can. Hyoga returned to Siberia and Ikki had just left without saying anything about where he was going.

Marine barely spoke to anyone anymore aside from Saori, Seika, and Shaina and visited Seiya in the hospital and Aiolia's empty temple every other day. Though she spent a little more time in Aiolia's house than she did at Seiya's bedside. There had been rumors floating around about her and Aiolia being lovers or something close to it that were unconfirmed. They were obviously more than friends but not quite lovers yet. When news of the Leo Saint's death reached her, Marine had been hit hard by it. She had locked herself in her little cabin for over a week and didn't come out for anything. Marine sometimes went days without eating and several times did Saori have to force her to take care of herself. She had also become more tempermental with almost everyone than usual and a was bit more harsh with a anyone she trained with.

The Ophiuchus Saint was more better off than the Aquila Saint, though the two do get into verbal spats more often. Shaina would spend the better parts of her days at Seiya's bedside with Seika. When another day of no response came from the Pegasus Saint Shaina would go out to the trainning fields to blow off stream; meaning she'd beat the crap out of her lackies and any other poor soul unfurtunate enough to be her sparring partner. Like Marine, Shaina's usual heavyhanded techniques had become even more brutal. She hardly ever pulled any of her punches anymore.

Saori slouched slightly in her chair with a heavy sigh. If all that'd been happening weren't enough, she had been getting these unusual dreams for weeks now. At first they had been indistingishable and blurry but over time they had become sharper, more focused and defined. They had always started out and ended the same way. Each night she had these dreams she grew more and more worried about what they meant.

In her dreams she always found herself standing at the far end of her darkened throne room with her staff and sheild in hand. But the strange thing was that no matter how hard she tried she couldn't move, let alone make the smallest twitch. Also, everytime she tried to open her mouth she couldn't speak. At her feet she could see all the Saint Coffers surrounding her protctively.

As Saori was beginning to wonder what the meaning of all this was, she scensed a second presence besides herself in the room. In that instant the free-standing torch basins sprung to life and illuminated the room. Saori found that the second person in her dreams was a young teenage woman who looked about the same age as her. Her short brown hair framed her lightly tanned face. Her emerald colored eyes shinned like jewels in the darkness. She wore a strange cloaked outfit of pink, white, and gold silk. As far as looks go the outfit looked a little like a female super hero costume crossed with a magician's robes.

The girl had been studying the room and when the tourches closest to Saori bursted to life. Saori and the Saint Coffers instantly became the source of the stranger's attention as she looked the young goddess incarnate over.

Suddenly, a large golden circle of gold light with all the ancient symbles for zodiac and the kanji for North, Souh, East, and West appeared directly under her feet. She stood in the center of a ten-point star with the sun on the left and the moon at her right as it slowly spun.

A small key that had been hanging around her neck transformed into a pink wand or a short staff of the sorts with wings, rubies, and a gold star.

For a moment Saori worried that the girl might attack her seeing as she couldn't move. But then the mystery girl would turn her back to her and faced a massive cosmos equal to or possibly stronger than her own when it suddenly flooded the room. Before the girl stood a man in dark red robes with strait long red-orange hair and narrowed eyes. The imposing figure held a godly air to him that Saori herself and other mortal gods had. She alo found him to be strangely familiar.

He loomed over the girl, not even aknowledging Saori, and reached out to her. He said something in such a low and menacing voice that Saori couldn't hear it. This only made the green eyed brunette step back defensively.

Saori tried with all he might to move but something kept her restrained to where she stood. She felt the need and to help the girl all the sudden, the want to protect her. The young goddess felt as if something truely horrible would happen if she didn't. It was then, as if feeling Saori's unspoken desires, the twelve Gold and five familiar Bronze Saint Coffers opened up, spilling light and power into the room.

Then the dream would fade and leave Saori wondering what happened to the brunette. The strangeness of the dreamand her godly instincts made the young woman think it was a prophecy of some kind. If that was true, then it meant a new fight with a god was coming and it was centered around the strange girl in Saori's dreams.

Saori gave a heavy sigh. If a new fight was coming then that meant her already straining and crippled forces may not come out victorious this time.

The large doors to the room opened and at them stood Aquila Marine. The Silver Saint walked briskly and full of purpose over to Athena's raised throne and kneeled. "Athena-sama." her light voice was melancholy and slightly hoarse from little use but still carried a business-like tone.

"Marine," Saori greeted. "What's the news?"

The Amazon stood, he back strait, hands at her sides, and heels together. "Seiya still hasn't woken up yet. The doctors say his body has been healed completely for some time now so they're waiting to see what happens next... but they also say that if he doesn't wake up soon, they'll have to pull him off life support." Saori nodded grimly, cueing Marine to continue. "Finding replacement Saints for the fallen ones is going slow, especially for the Gold Saints. Non of them left any living trainees except Libra and Aries, but Kiki is still too young and Dragon said he refuses take his master's cloth for the time being. And the Bronze Saints have recieved your summons and are on their way."

"That's good."

Marine was silent for a moment before she spoke again. "Athena-sama, if I may ask, why did you call for Shiryu, Hyoga, Shun, and Ikki? Is something wrong?" The Eagle Saint held no illusions about Seiya and his friends not being stronger than her and other silver level Saints. She wouldn't allow herself to inflate her ego enough to the point of blinding her eyes to blanted truth.

These particular bronze boys were able to go head to head with Silver Saints, then take on the Gold Saints, and finally they had become strong enough to defy gods and still somehow pull out a victory. Dispite their low rank, they were among of Athena's most powerful defenses. If Athena ever called on these five, now currently four, then something somewhere was about to go terribly wrong. Marine wanted to be ready to fight if something did go wrong.

Saori peered down at Marine's masked face then spoke. "I believe so." she started "... I've been having these strange dreams lately." Saori then told the female Saint every little detail that she could remember about the dream. "I think it's some kind of a vision, maybe a warning. I'm unsure about what was happening in my dream, but the meaning is clear. A new foe, most likely another god, is approaching us and this girl is involved somehow."

The Silver Saint nodded in agreement. "I can dispatch scouts to find her if you want."

"Yes, but first call in one of the artisans. The scouts should at least know what the person they're going to search for looks like."

"At once, Athena-sama." Marine then hurried off.

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**And theres the second chapter! Everyone still with me so far? If you are than that's wonderful! If you aren't than boo to you! Thanks for the one review and many hits. Please keep sending them. Also, in this fic the whole Apollo and Artemis movie thing, did not happen. I didn't like it all that much so I just cut that out.**

**Now, heres a little something to help understand what's not in english if you can't read it.**

_**Japanese 101**_

**Hoe: Sakura's personal sound she makes to express confusion, surpise, or embarrasment.**

**(O)Tou-san: Father**

**(O)Kaa-san: Mother**

**Ohayo: Hello/ good morning**

**Hai: Yes**

**Oi: Hey**

**Kaiju: ( Weird ) Monster**

**Yuuna: Basically it means Don't call me...insert what ever word...**

**Ja ne: See you**

**And that's all Folks! Now I'm going to find me a tub of ice cream and go sit next to a fan. It's too freakin' hot today! Bye!**


	3. First Meeting of Heros

_**First Meeting of Heros**_

**Pairings for the rest of the story: Shaoron/Sakura, Toya/Yukito, Hyoga/Shun... more to come when I get there**

Kero sat on Sakura's lowered tray-table in serious contemplation as his young master quietly slept above him. Because she was in a hurry earlier that morming, and then surrounded and distracted by friends and classmates durring the bus ride to the airport, it hadn't been safe to openly talk to him. But now that they were some thousand feet in the air with most of the plane riders asleep, destined for a country almost half the world away, she was able to talk to him without fear of any eavesdroppers.

What Sakura told the guardian beast nearly made him choke on a peanut he'd been eating.

She had another vision!

This one however was different from all the others she ever had. What's more, her talk of silver and gold coffers with the symbles of the Greek constellations and zodiac tickled something in his memory. A story he heard from Clow Reed a long time ago about some sort of war between gods and young men with superhuman, and sometimes inhuman, abilities.

Kero popped a salted peanut into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. The thing that unsettled him most was the man in her dream. It was fairly obvious his origins was of the magical sort or something akin to it. He sounded dangerous and powerful just by his discription alone. The little yellow creature wondered just what Sakura had that the nameless man wanted.

Could he know about the Sakura Cards? There were only a few sorcerers left in the world and the fact that Clow has a successer was little known outside the Li Clan and Eriol's little circle. If that was the case, then just how did he find out and what would he want them for? He couldn't simply take the cards, they were bound to Sakura when she signed her name on them and past the Final Judgement.

Well, whatever it was this guy wanted from his mistress, he wouldn't get it. Kero wouldn't let him have it.

Kero quickly dumped the rest of his peanuts in his mouth went sat ridgetly still when a stewardess walked by pushing a tolly with more plane food. It was about lunch time and sadly Sakura was still asleep. She put her bento in the overhead cabin too! Dang it! He was still hungry! Maybe it was time to put all his stealth skills to the test?

Kero smirked to himself. Let Operation: Food Pilfer begin!

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Sakura's eyes darted left and right as she got off the plane before they turned a stern gaze down at the sulking guardian that had been stuffed in her purse "I still can't believe you." she muttered. "You were so close to getting caught."

Kero moodily shifted his eyes away. "Well if someone had left a snack out I wouldn't need to try and sneak plane food."

Tomoyo chuckled. "Is putting food in your belly all you think about?"

"No!" he yelled, his head lifting out of the yellow bag, but he was quickly smothered back down by Sakura's hand.

"Keep it down," she hissed as she eyed the surrounding travelers and her classmates nervously. "Someone might hear you."

As the sorceress and her friends walked through the airport, just passing through Costums and heading towards Baggage Claim, another group of special people had just landed themselves not too long ago and were entering Baggage Claim.

Shun yawned as he lean on Hyoga a little as he walked, Shiryu and Ikki trailing a few paces behind.

"Still tired?"

Shun looked up at his blond lover and nodded. "Just a little."

In response the Russian wrapped his arm around the smaller boy's waist, pulling him closer and making him lean a little more into Hyoga's side. "You can sleep on our way to Sanctuary."

"I wonder why Saori-san needed to call us?" Shiryu asked out loud. "Could something be wrong?" He had already been planing to visit, if only to check on Seiya, but when the summons from Saori came with urgency, he got the feeling something was amiss.

"Hopefully not." Ikki said. When he had left Sanctuary he had not been planning to return so soon. Not after what happened. But a call from Athena was never to be ignored and was a serious matter that usually meant trouble was near.

Shiryu crossed his arms in deep thought. He had been in such deep contemplation he hadn't noticed he was about to crash into someone until it was too late. He felt a smaller, softer body run head long into him. While he only stumbled back a step and loud "Hoeee!" resounded followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground.

Shiryu looked down to see a girl about his age with short brown hair and green eyes in a blue sundress slowly sitting up on the floor. Her belongings from her purse were scattered all over the ground. "Itai..." she muttered, rubbing his back.

Another girl around the same age who was with her, this time with long wavy dark indigo hair that had been pulled into a braid and wearing a pale green sort-sleeve shirt and a knee length white skirt, bent down to check on the first. "Sakura-chan, daijoubu desu ka?" she asked, earning a nod from Sakura.

"Sumi-masen!" Shiryu apologised as he knelt down to gather her dropped things. "I wasn't looking where I was going." he said sheepishly.

By then the other Saints noticed the little scene Shiryu had caused. "Are you two okay?" Ikki asked as he began to help the Dragon Saint.

"I'm fine." Shiryu assured.

The brunette nodded to her friend. "Daijoubu, it was only a small fall, Tomoyo-chan. Besides, I wasn't looking where I was going either."

Hyoga picked up a small cat-like doll with a round head and eares that landed near his foot. It was about as big as his hand, yellow, had beady little black eyes, a long tail wigh a cotton-ball at the end, and had tiny pale yellow wings. Hyoga narrowed his eyes at it. Dispite it's lifeless appearance he could scense a strange kind of Cosmos surrounding it. The Cosmos was so tiny and well hidden he almost missed it.

"Kawaii."

Hyoga turned to see a smiling Shun looking at the little 'stuffed animal'. He always did like cute things.

The green haired boy looked at Sakura who was now standing, Shiryu handing back all the items he made her drop. "Is this little neko-chan yours?"

The brunetted looked at what the blond was holding and nearly squealed in horror. He had Kero! Thankfully she managed to catch herself. "Yes, it's mine." she said, mustering as much calm as she could into her voice and held her hand out for her guardian.

Hyoga looked at Sakura then down at the tiny doll-like creature in his hand again before placing it in her waiting hand.

The young sorceress felt a chill run up her spine when she looked Hyoga in the eye. It felt like she was trying to stare down The Freeze and The Snow cards all over again. "Arigato." Sakura said smiling innocently. Mentally she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sakura-chan! Tomoyo-chan!" The six turned to see three girls and a guy not too far away waving at the two girls. "Hurry up

you guys, or the class is going to the hotel without you! Sensei says the shuttle bus is on its way!" a girl with braided pigtails called.

"Coming!" The two turned to the boys and gave a small farewell bow. "Bye!" the two chirpped before running off to their friends and disappearing in the crowd.

Shun smiled when he couldn't see the two again. "They were nice." He then turned to the others. "We should get going. They sent Tatsumi to come get us after all and you know how he gets."

As the others began to leave, Hyoga stared at the spot he last saw the girls a moment longer with narrowed eyes. _'Those two were strange. Especially that Sakura girl.'_ The blond then hurried after his friends. Unbeknown to him, he and his friends would run into Sakura again in the near future.

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**And there's the first meeting! This chapter was short, I know. But hey, that's just how the ball bounces. Now that the stage is set, strange things are about to happen, familiar faces are about to appear, and the first of the trials that will test our young Master of the Sakura Cards and Bronze Saints is about begin. The adventure will continue soon! Review please!**

**P.S.**

**I forgot the Disclaimer in the first chapter o here it is: I don't own anything but the fic itself, the characters, except a few, aren't mine so don't sue, I'm just borrowing.**

**P.S.S**

**All right boys and girls, it's time for...**

_**Japanese 101**_

**Itai: Word or sound for ow, ouch, etc.**

**Daijoubu Desu Ka: Are you alright?**

**Daijoubu: I'm fine**

**Sumi-masen: one of sevral ways of saying I am sorry ( to a stranger )**

**Kawaii: Cute**

**Neko-chan: Kitty/kitten**

**Arigato: Thank you**

**Sensei: Teacher or master of any given profession ( Doctor, Writer, Martal Arts, etc.)**


	4. A Picture Says A Thousand Words

_**A Picture Says A Thousand Words**_

Saori looked up when the doors to her throne room opened and four special Bronze Saints walked in. The mortal goddess stood and met them halfway between the door and her seat. "Shun, Shiryu, Ikki, Hyoga, you're finally here." she said with hints of relief in her voice.

The four each greeted her back. "We arrived about an hour ago." Hyoga stated.

"So what's going on?" Ikki asked bluntly, not really in the mood for small talk.

Saori straitened her dress and folded her hands in front of her. Leave it to Ikki to be strait forward right off the bat. "I've called you all because I've been having visions almost every night for weeks. I think it's trying to tell me of what may come in the future."

This caught their attention. Getting a vision usually meant someone upstairs, the Fates, Destiny, whoever, was either trying to warn or remind them of something. Saori, as Athena, didn't get visions often, but when she did that meant something serious was about to hit the fan. "Can you discribe it?" Shun asked.

Saori then told them what she told Marin the previous afternoon. The Saints stood there soaking it all in, each wearing frowns that grew deeper and deeper with every passing word.

When Saori finished Ikki growled deep from his chest out of frustration. "Great, just what we need so soon after the whole mess with Hades was over!"

"If this guy you saw really is a god, I wonder which one he is?" Hyoga pondered. "And I wonder who this girl you saw is?"

Shiryu nodded. Her discription sounded familiar, almost like that girl he bumped into earlier. As if to confirm his thoughts, Aquila Marin suddenly walking in. In her hand were two rolled up peices of sketch paper.

"Athena-sama," she bowed and then greeted the four Bronze Saints. "Hello boys." She then turned back to Saori and handed her the drawing papers. "This was the best rendering the artist could come up with."

The lilac haired goddess looked long and hard at the two drawing and nodded in satisfaction. "This looks just like them. Thank you, Marin." She then turned to four curious Saints and held one of pictures up for them to see. "This is the man with the godly cosmos in my dreams."

The four studied his young face and robes intently, memerizing them in case they ever saw him in mortal form. Then Saori held up the second picture and the four Saints nearly keeled over in shock.

"No way, it's her!" Shun exclaimed.

Both females in the room blinked. "What do you mean?"

This time Shiryu spoke. "We met this girl. At the airport today." he explained.

"Are you saying she's he in Athens?" Marin asked. If she hadn't been wearing he mask the five would have seen he eyes narrow and the corners of her mouth dip slightly in a frown.

Ikki nodded. "Shiryu bumped into her when we went to get our luggage."

Hyoga then took his turn, saying, "She was there with friends. They said their class was going on a tour bus or something so she's probably here on a school trip."

"Then we have to find her." Saori said. "I'll have Tatsume call up every hotel and motel near the airport and ask if they're hosting any foreign schools or classes."

"Then we'll go and check them out." Shun added.

The long haired goddess nodded. "Yes, but first go get settled in and rest. The ride here was long and I'm sure some of you are tired."

The four said nothing but they agreed and walked out.

When the door closed Saori turned to the remaining Amazon Saint. "What are the chances that one of the two people we were looking for is practically standing on our doorsteps?"

The Aquila Saint shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know. But I don't really believe in chance or coincidences." she said. "Maybe fate brought her to us to give us a better fighting chance if things do go bad."

The young Kido girl agreed. "At the very least we would be able to give her some form of protection."

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For years, centuries, he had watched them. These humans and their short meaningless lives. They went about their daily activities without care, happy and dull. They were peaceful.

He seethed.

He hated peace! It like watching a stone. It did nothing but sit there. Throughout most of the recent centuries it reigned with barely a pause, a small war would break out, but then peace would always come back like a roach that refused to die! It was there, always there, ever since before he was born.

He wanted nothing more than to end the existance of peace. He wanted to destroy it, to kill it so that it never came back. He wanted to create a war that would give birth to more and more wars. An unending war that would continue on until not one human was left standing, for if a single human remained, peace would come.

It puzzled him how Athena could cherish peace so. Was she not a fellow goddess of battle? Of WAR?! Was she not adorned in armor, staff and sheild in hand, and prepared to fight even against her own father the moment she tasted freedom outside his body where she and her mother had been unfairly trapped all her childhood?

Athena loved peace. She thrived in it just like the humans. She nurtured and protected it like a mother would for her child.

His mother and father had always said she was the more noble one between them.

It sickened Ares to know his sister, his other half, couldn't, or rather wouldn't, know the pleasure of mowing an enemy down inferior to her. To kill and conquer without mercy and face the next warrior on the battlefield. To make them fear and hate. That was paradise. It was Ares' version of Nervana. It gave him a purpose, a meaning, a reason to exist! An endless battle where only the strong survived. A place where only warriors could thrive, where the rush of energy that is life could truely be felt.

Athena would turn a blind eye to this and deaffen herself to the joyous cries of bloodlust from true warriors. She would shed tears of pity and remourse for the weaklings who fell to the might of another's sword.

Athena was soft, she was weak.

She would always try to find a peaceful way to end the wars he helped instigate. And most times her ways always overshadowed his in the end. He hated that!

Ares pulled his mind away from his thoughts and his eyes away from the crystal ball that hovered just inches above his left armrest when knock on the tall doors of his thone room echoed. His blood red cosmos that he had been unconciously leaking in massive waves, making the air heavy and sufficating, lightened until it recieded back into his body. When the air became more normal again did the doors open. In walked a man in a cloak of the deepest red it looked as if it had been permanently stained that color by blood. He was tall, and had pale, almost paper white skin. He had narrow golden eye and long dark blue and hair that trailed down to just above his knees.

"Capaneus," Ares said with growing impatients as watched his subordinate walk with graceful slowness.

The man was insufferable and shrewd. He could almost be called conceited and arrogant but not to the point of overstepping his boundries. The man knew his place and took great care not to anger the god above him. He had seen what Ares and other gods did to mortals who defied them. He had no intention of following their pathes. Capaneus hadn't gotten to be Ares' right hand by being stupid.

The mortal passed between the long red, orange, and dark yellow drapes and curtines that hung from the high ceilings. He eyes wondered and glanced at the paintings of bloody, fire filled battlefeilds and marble statues of ancient and great warriors who worshipped Ares in their short lives.

When the one known as Capaneus came within three feet to the first bottom stair of Ares' ellivated throne he bowed and knelt down on one knee. "My Lord."

"What news is there on our progress?"

"The plan is procceding smoothly, Lord Ares. Most of the... newer additions to our ranks have been converted to you cause." The dark haired man then frowned. "But the stronger ones are being difficult. Give me a few more days. They are already beginning to wear down and I should be able to open their eyes to your greatness." He the pulled our a thick rectangular box from his robes and opened the lid. Inside were nine different colored crystals, each was a different shape and size, but all had only on thing in common; they each held a tiny swirling cosmos inside. "I will retreive the remaining five for you soon."

Ares lifted a cosmos wrapped hand, the box his servent presented lifed into the air and floated to him. "Fine, you have until the end of the week. Five days is all I will give. Move with haste, Capaneus, our time runs short and if I miss this window of opportunity because you couldn't meet the deadline, you'll find yourself in the deepest pits of Tartarus." Ares warned his cosmos flaring almost wildly as he said this.

Capaneus bowed low, knowing full well the words of his lord was anything but an empty threat. "Yes, I understand Lord Ares."

"What of your experiments?"

The darkly dressed mortal let out a small laugh. "It is going well, Ares-sama, but I'll need new specimens to test my theroies on."

"And what of our honored guest."

Capaneus smirked. "She just arrived in Athens today a little over an hour ago. Shall I send a welcoming commity now or later?"

"Send one later tonight. It wouldn't do as her host to not welcome her before she settles in." Ares said a slow grin spreading across his handsome face. "But I wish to see her abilities first. I must know the limits of her powers. I leave the method of her testing to your judgement." he stated. "But I want her alive and in one peice when she is brought before me."

Capaneus nodded. "At once you lordship." He then stood, bowed again, then turned and walked out.

When the door closed Ares let out a deep baritone laugh that echoed all throughout the room. Everything was coming together! Soon he would have the power to finally realize his ambitions and it was all thanks to a single girl named Kinomoto Sakura.

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**Lo and behold everyone, the fourth chapter! Now things are getting intersting! We have our ununited heros and we've now unvailed the bad guy, Ares, the God of War! But I wonder just how he knew about Sakura? What are his plans for her? What were those crystals? Who were the those warriors he and Capaneus were talking about? Just what's going on?! If you want to know you'll just have to read the next chapter when I update! See you then!**


	5. The Coming Danger

_**The Coming Danger**_

Capaneus grinned to himself as his eyes lifted over the top of a small novel. He watched the girl, Kinomoto Sakura, and her classmates walk through the hotel lobby not unlike a preditor would stalk its prey. He kept watching her even as she walked right by him, seeing him as nothing more than an ordinary man. His long hair was pulled into a tight ponytail and his firmly pressed black pin stripped business suit and navy dress-shirt assured him that he did not look out of place.

It had been easy to bring her to Athens. Nobody suspected a thing. It had taken a great deal of time to make the needed preparations but he had gotten the first stage of the plan completed. He had come to her school as a sponsor for an international cultural studies group of his own fabrication and said they had been interested in Seijou High for some time now and were accepting one class from either the junior to senior years. The school Super Intendent and Principal jumped right on top of it. Then all he had to do was use his cosmos on certain minds to influece the decision a little and now her she was.

Lord Ares had been pleased and now he simply had to test the depth of her powers. But the question remained how to go about testing her?

"How Sakura-chan remains so gulible to your lies after so long is beyond me."

Capaneus turned when he heard Sakura's name to see a young girl with braided pigtails and a tall mild-mannor boy standing idly just a little ways from the class.

"Whoever said I was lying, Chiharu-chan? My sources tell me-"

"You're full of it, Takashi." the girl cut the boy off as she palmed her face.

Capaneus felt a wide smirk grow across his features. He just found his what he was looking for. The right hand of Ares snapped his book shut and rose from his seat on one of the many plush couches. He placed a pair of sun glasses over his hawk-like eyes to hide the dangerous glint that may alert them to his ill intent as he approuched the two teens. "Excuese me,"

The two looked up at him. Capaneus gave a deceptively pleasent smile.

"May I ask you something?"

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Sakura let out a content sigh as she fell face first into one of the hotel room twin beds. The thirteen hour flight followed by the almost half hour shuttle ride to the hotel seriously made her tired. Not to mention all the unpacking she'd have to do later. She wanted to sleep the moment her head touched the pillow. The jetlag had finally begun to set in.

The young sorceress spyed around the room and found it quite comfortable looking. The room itself was large enough to fit four of five people comfortably. The walls were painted a nice shade of peach and the ceiling and carpet was an off white color. On the right side of the door was a small half kitchen with a black mini-frige, coffee-pot, microwave, and sink. An off white island with stools seperated the kitchen from the rest of the room. On the opposite side was a closet and a simple, small washroom. There ws also a balcony at the far end of the room that looked like it had a great view of the city.

Kero, who let himself out of Sakura's bag, flew over to the mini frige aiming to raid it.

When he opened it he found all sorts of soda pop, juices, teas, chocolates, jello, candies, cookies, crackers, cakes, muffens, nacho chips and dip, and sliced fruits and vegtables. Then his eyes found the grand-daddy of all sweets, CUP PUDDING! He had died and gone to Candyland Heaven!

Kero let his mouth water impatiently, wondering where to start. It had been hours since he last ate and his belly was calling for attention! The guardian beast grabbed a complementry paper plate and cup and loaded up with a little of everything. Hey, it was free grub so why not impose a little?

As the little food-vacum went about his business, Tomoyo placed one of three suitecaces, her smallest, she brought with her on her own neatly made bed and began pulling out little knick-knacks such as her traveling essentials like her toothbrush and toothpaste. She also pulled out all the electronical equipment for her photography like her digital camera, video camera, laptop, floppy disks, batteries, charger, connection wires for the laptop, small boxes of unused burn CDs and printing flim, and mini photo-printer. Tomoyo placed most of that on the desk between the balcony door and wardrobe where wireless internet jack was. The dark haired girl then went for her second suitcase, her largest one which stood four feet tall and was very wide. Opening it, Tomoyo began pulling out all sorts of supplies for clothes and costume making. She had a design sketch book and small rolls of different colored fabrics like cotton, silk, and leather. She pulled out make-up, hair, and accessory kits, a box filled spools of every color threads, different needles, and buttons of all shapes and colors, clips, buckles, belts, and velcro.

"Did you bring your whole studio with you, Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked with a growing sweatdrop.

As said girl walked around the room arranging her things she turned to face her cousin and best friend and smiled. "Of course not, silly. But I hope to get some insperation from the local culture to make a new dress so I had to bring all this." Stars suddenly filled her dark blue eyes and glitter twinkled all around her. "And when I do create a new dress you can model it for me." She sighed happily at the thought of all the clothes she could make for Sakura.

"Hoee," Sakura breathed with a nervous smile. "I suppose so."

Kero flew over and landed heavily on Sakura's bed. He grabbed the remote off the nightstand and turned on the tv to do some channel surfing, looking for a good foreign movie or cartoon. He managed to find an American action/horror flick called Freddy vs. Jason, he'd seen only the beginning of it once back in Japan and wanted to see the rest. "So what's on your To-Do-List for the trip?"

"Well," Sakura begain. "Nothing much today because everyone's settling in and it is a little late in the afternoon, almost evening. But tomorrow morning Takamichi-sensei said we're going on a tour of the city and do some site seeing."

"And after we'll all go to the museums. "Tomoyo continued where Sakura left off. "We'll also go see the ancient temple ruins around the city for field study reports the day after."

"And the next day we get to go visit the amusment park!" Sakura chirped.

"And the beach the next day!"

"And art galleries the day after!"

"Don't forget the upcoming Cultural Festival and Fair."

Kero nodded to all this as he munched on a cookie. "Sounds like fun."

There was a knock at the door, Kero grabbed his still half full plate and darted under the bed as Tomoyo went to answer the door. Sakura turned down the tv when the door opened and Yamazaki and Chiharu voices could be heard. A moment later the sound of the door clicking shut sounded and Tomoyo came back. Kero had reappeared from under the bed, dragging a now empty plate after him.

"Yamazaki and Chiharu said they needed to talk to you about something important."

"About what?" Sakura sat up in bed. If they needed to talk why didn't they just come in?

Tomoyo shrugged. "I don't know. They said it was private and that they'd meet you after dinner to talk. They wanted to meet on the hotel's roof for some reason."

"Sakura," Kero called, getting both girl's attention. "I scensed something." A frown pulled a the ends of his lips.

The brunette blinked. "Eh? When? What did you scense?"

Kero rubbed his head and shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure what I scensed. But I do know it was strong and very well hidden. I almost missed it." He then crossed his arms. "It was coming off your friends just now."

"N-Nani?!" the two nearly screeched in unison. Kero nodded.

Then a thought crossed Sakura's mind. "Wait, how come I didn't scense anything and you did?"

"I'm magic given a physical form. I am much more in tuned with the supernatural than you." The sun guardain stated. "And if that's the case then Yue and I will have to up your trainning."

Sakura wanted to groan about the added trainning but now wasn't the time. "So what do we do?"

"Nothing for now. Pretend nothing's wrong until you go to the roof for your meeting with your friends." The little yellow creature said. "If what I was scensing is hostle then it would be better not to confront it before then." Kero then looked up at his master. "If theres evil magic at work we can't handle then we might have to call Yue and the others."

Sakura nodded. One day into her trip and already things were becoming weird. Not to mention possibly dangerous. The brunette hoped nothing bad was going to happen.

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A few hours later the class had gone to dinner at one of two in-hotel resturaunts, which went without incident. Yamazaki and Chiharu seem pretty normal throughout the hour and a half meal. They talked, smiled, and laughed. The squinty eyed boy had even spun one of his tall tales on how the Greeks built there temples using malasses and mud to stick their building blocks together which resulted in one of Chiharu's choking sessions.

Sakura had managed to act normally enough around them all evening and when dinner was coming to an end and her other classmates save Tomoyo began to leave was when Yamazaki and Chiharu's demeanors began to change. They began giving her emotionally blank stares before it slowly changed into nervous and fearful glances as if she was about to jump over the table and attack them. They looked down right suspicious of her. Soon after they started throwing angry and almost hateful looks at her.

The two had excuesed themselves from the table stiffly, still giving her contemptous glares. Sakura watched them go with worry.

The green eyed sorceress looked down under the table whe she felt something tugging at her dress's skirt. Kero was motioning for her to leave the table as soon as he got her attention and darted away and out of sight. With a slight nod she did so, Tomoyo rising quickly after her. When they came into the lobby the two spotted Kero hiding behind one of the potted plants flanking the elevators.

Quickly going over to him, Tomoyo picked him up and held him as if he was just a doll as Sakura called the elevator. When they were in the safty and privacy of the lift did Kero speak.

"I felt it, and this time I'm possitive it's hostle. Not only that, but it's definantly not magic at work here."

The two looked at the little winged cat. "If it's not magic then what is it?" Tomoyo asked as she pressed the botton for the tenth floor, the top floor.

At this Kero shrugged. "I'm not quite sure, but I think it could be cosmos."

Sakura forrowed her brows. "What's cosmos?"

Kero heaved a sigh. "Understand something, in this universe there are many different types of energy flows. Magic and cosmos are just two of them. You already know magic comes from the power of one's spirit or from any other surrounding spirits. Cosmos, however, filters down from the stars in the sky to empower someone. Specifically it comes from the constellations."

"How do you know that?" Tomoyo tilted her head at Kero.

The tiny guardian crossed his arms. "A long time ago Clow Reed told me and Yue a story of about a divine war between gods and the young men who faught for them. The gods taught these young warriors how to harness cosmos, the powers of the stars. In exchange, these men swore their loyalty and their lives to their god." Kero glanced at his master. "Does any of this sound familiar to you, Sakura?"

The girl's eyes had gone wide. "My dream! There were images in it that showed a war! The gods were fighting over the planet!"

The sun guardian nodded. "The story said that some of the gods fight over the rights to the world every few centuries. The reigning victor so far has been the goddess Athena."

"So the gods are fighting again?" Tomoyo asked, trying to picture what the world would be like if Athena had lost to one of the other gods. Some outcomes weren't very pretty.

"Let's hope not."

"If they're fighting, what's Sakura-chan have to do with any of it?"

Kero shrugged at the question. In that moment a ding went off and the elevator stopped on the top floor. "I don't know but we're going to find out."

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**And thats the fifth chapter, everyone! Thanks for the reviews you've been sending. There great. Things are about to get most troubling for Sakura and the others now. Ares is moving up in his plans and the Saints haven't shown themselves yet! Better yet, what's does Sakura have to do with the Holly Wars?! Come back soon to find out! Review! Ciao!**


	6. My Friend Is My Enemy

_**My Friend Is My Enemy**_

"Find anything yet?" Ikki asked when he met back up with Shun and Shiryu. Hyoga had yet to arrive.

The four had been given nearly four hours to settle in and rest. During that time Tatsume used the computers of the Greece Branch of the Graud Foundation to scower the many different hotel reservations from foriegn countries. He had come up with a little over forty reservation hits for large groups of people from thirteen hotels. The Bronze Saints had then set out, dividing the names of each hotel between them.

Shun and Shiryu looked at each other then shook their heads at Ikki. "Nothing but family reunions and wedding reseptions on my end." Shiryu said.

"Same here, but I also got high school proms and a couple of wild college parties." Shun hung his head. "Nobody looked even remotely like those girls at the airport."

Ikki placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Don't worry, maybe Hyoga will have better luck than us."

"Should we go look for him?" Shiryu asked. "I can scense his cosmos. It's not too far from us."

The two brothers nodded and the three took off to find the Cygnus Saint.

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Hyoga was beginning to get frustrated. He had already gone through two of the four hotels he'd been assigned to and still no luck. The blond was now standing in front of the third hotel and hoped this one was the one because if Tatsume's information was faulty... well nobody would really blame him if something happened to the annoying bald manservant. The only thing Hyoga really knew about his target was that she was Japanese. Her accent, name, and the words she spoke back at the airport gave away her ethnicy.

Hyoga sighed as he walked in and made his way to the front counter. He had a feeling there was something off about that Sakura girl, her and her 'doll'. Now he knew for sure.

"Excuese me," He called the attention of the desk clerk, a young redhead girl who was busy with files and had their back to him. When she turned she blushed at the sight of the blond haired, blue eyed man in front of her and immediatly hurried to him.

"Can I help you, sir?" She asked pleasantly, smiling cutely and batting her eyelashes at him a little.

Hyoga gave a small smile back for politeness' sake. "Yes, I'm looking for a group of high school kids from Japan. They might have checked in this hotel today."

She seemed confused by the request and he could see the beginnings of suspicion in her eyes. Hyoga steeled himself, now he had to do the only thing didn't want to do. He had to use his charms and make her fawn over him. He hated doing it, especially since he already had someone who was loving, caring, beautiful, gentle, and hopefully willing to forgive if he ever found out. But it was for a good cause. Sometimes Hyoga cursed his girl magnet looks. He sent a quick mental apology to Shun before leaning on the desk and closer to the girl until he was mere inches away from her face, which was now flushing.

"It's very important I find them." he said reaching for a stray red hair and tucking his behind her ear and letting the tips of his fingers drag along her jawline. Hyoga glanced at her name tag. It read Demetra. The action made the clerk go bright red. "You see, Miss. Demetra, I have friends named Sakura and Tomoyo in their group and I have to get in contact with them. What do you say? Help a guy out?"

The red in the face clerk stuttered, "Y-y-yeah, sure..." She went over to the computer and typed in a few key strokes. Hey, he was a hot guy! Protocol can take a hike for all Demetra could care. She didn't get hit on by handsome men with sexy accents very often. Hyoga waited patiently but still attempted to see what was on the screen. "Sir, we do have reservations for a group of twenty-three under a Isao Takamichi from Japan. They checked in a little over four hours ago."

Hyoga nodded. "Thanks for the help, beautiful." He pulled away from the counted. "Maybe if I'm still around we could go for coffee or something." the blond lied through his teeth.

He left the desk and the girl in a near faint, and pulled out a cell phone. It was times like this he was glade Shun had pushed it on him. Taking a seat on one of the chairs in the lobby, Hyoga dialed his green haired angel.

After three rings the most beautiful voice the blond ice saint would ever want to hear greeted him._ "Moshi, moshi?"_

Hyoga smirked. "I think I found them." was his blunt statement.

_"Good, we were already on our way to find you." _Shun said.

Cygnus nodded. "I'll be-" Hyoga cut himself off when he felt it. Two semi-large cosmos just flared within his immediate area. Another cosmos flared soon after the first two, but this one was strange. It didn't feel completely like cosmos, like it was mixed with something else. The blond looked up towards the ceiling. It had come from many floors above him.

_"Hyoga?"_ Shun's tiny voice was beginning to fill with worry when his lover suddenly stopped talking.

The ice Saint placed the phone back up to his ear as he stood and took off for the elevators. "You guys better get here quick! Something's going down!" When Hyoga saw the elevator was on the eighth floor and was slow going up rather than down he bolted for the stairs instead.

_"Right!"_ a faint click was heard as Shun's side went silent.

Hyoga tucked his phone away as he ran up three and four steps at a time to he reached the top floor. When he was barely a floor away and already he could hear the sounds of battle. Once he reached the door he kicked it out, nearly forcing it off its hinges, and effectively drawing everyone who was present attention.

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**Five Minutes Ago**

Sakura and Tomoyo had to walked up the emergency stairs to reach the roof. Sakura steeled herself and took her Star Sealing Key out when she faced the roof entrance. Tomoyo pulled out her trusty video camera, ready to record anything and everything weird. Kero hovered near the girls, ready to transform into his true form at a moments notice.

As they walked out into the warm Spring/Summer air they spotted Takashi and Chiharu standing side by side on the opposide side of the roof than the trio. The pair's hard glare had become down right vemonous when they noticed Tomoyo standing just outside the doorway to the emergency stairs.

The tension between the four, or five if you count Kero, before the pigtailed girl broke it first. "Well, well, well, finally decided to drop in, Sakura-_chan?_" Chiharu sneered.

"And look, she brought an audiance." The Yamazaki boy's lips were pulled back into a snarl, baring his teeth at them. "Guess she couldn't stand to face us alone. She had to bring he ever faithful groupie, always following like some lost puppy."

Chiharu lips twisted into a cruel smirked unbefitting of he normally kind face. "Maybe, but look at it this way, at least we get to humilliate her in front of her friend."

"Chiharu-chan, Yamazaki-kun, what's wrong?" Sakura asked, shocked her friends would speak that way. "Why are you being this way towards me? What have I done to make you so angry?"

"Well that's simple to answer," Chiharu said, waving he hand dismissively at the question. "You exist! And not just that either..."

"Just being around you and your disgusting innocence sickens us!" Takashi finished.

"But," Tomoyo stepped forward. "We're your friends! We've known each other since grammer school?"

Yamazaki's eyes twitched in annoyance, as if he was about to open them. "Friends? Bah, there is no room for such luxuries on the battlefield. There is only yourself and your enemies!" Takashi yelled. "What soft-hearted nonsense."

What he said now thoroughly confused Sakura. "What battlefeild?"

Chiharu said as she laughed, "Why, this battlefield of course." She then pointed to Sakura. "Now Mastress of The Cards, prepare yourself!"

Sakura was shocked and knew Kero and Tomoyo were as well when she heard them gasp sharply after her pigtailed friend spoke her title. But what really caught her by suprise even more was the strange dark green and blue glowing that sprung up around her two friends, Yamazaki and Chiharu respectively, followed by two large objects suddenly dropping out of he sky.

A pair of silvery boxes landed with a crash in front of and between the five. Both coffers appeared the same at first glance but had engravings that were different. One box had the a picture of a large bear while the other had a picture of a kneeling bow wielding hunter.

Takashi laugher came out sounding most sinister as he said, "You better call your magic, girly, because if you don't..." he wrapped his hand around a chained handle of the coffer with the hunter on it.

Chiharu grabbed the handle on the second coffer. "It'll make killing you so much more easier."

The two pulled back their respective handles and both boxes opened. The area lit up in a mixture of bright dark green and blue lights. It was so bright that Sakura, Tomoyo, and Kero had to turn their eyes away.

When the light subsided and the three were able to get their bearings back they could hardly believe their eyes. Their newly agressive friends were now clad in strange armor that appeared ancient in design but shinned and glittered like well polished jewels.

"Chiharu-chan..." Sakura whisperd in shocked awe. The girl was girl's armor was two shades of blue; dark blue trimed in light blue. The armor she wore showed off her figure as it hugged and covered her chest, back, and mid-section completely. It actually looked like a one piece strapless swimsuit with green jewels decorating it, only metal. She had a matching studed choker and headband with emeralds in the center along with gauntlets that had large white claws, small round shoulder guards, and shin and knee guards on her arm and legs. Chiharu also had a white sash criss-crossing around her waist and white mask with yellow claw marks painted down its left eye.

"... Yamazaki-kun" This time it was Tomoyo who spoke. The second of the two now offending friends armor offered him better protection as it covered much more of his body. It was a dark hunter green color. His chestplates, over the knee greaves, gauntlets, and spike studded shoulder guards weren't as thin looking or light as Chiharu's but served the same purpose. Under his leg gear one could see him wearing a pait of tight brown pants that looked like spandex. Also, unlike Chiharu, he wore a winged helm with a single ruby in the center. Several other rubies decorated a his waistguard and another one in the center of his chestplate. To finish his look, he had a long black cape held together by a gold rope hanging down his back.

Chiharu started to advance on Sakura a few steps, her new heels clicked with each step. "Like my new look? It's better than that silly school girl outfit I usually wear." Her voice was slightly muffled by her mask, something that Sakura found herself suddenly greatful for. She could no longer stand the sight of one of her best friend's hateful glare. "I suppose you can call me Ursa Major Chiharu now."

Takashi chuckled darkly. "Yeah, and I am Orion Takashi." he said. "The end is near for you sorceress. Kneel or die."

Sakura frowned. "I won't do it!" She then held up her Sealing Key, her magical circle came to life under her feet. "I don't know what's wrong with you guys, but I will turn you back to normal no matter what!"

"Then you've sealed your fate!" Chiharu yelled and lept into the air at Sakura, Yamazaki right behind her.

In that very same moment Sakura called her incantation,"_Key that hides the power of the stars, show your true form before me._" Sakura's seal began to spin slowly as the wind picked up around her. "_I, Sakura, comand you under our contract. RELEASE!_" Magical energies swirled around her Star Key before it grew and transformed into its wand form. She twirled he wand like a baton as she pulled out a Sakura Card, not wanting to hurt her friends but knowing she had to fight them to help them.

Tomoyo ran for cover behind a air duct, her camera recording one of the worst fights her cousin could ever fight in.

"Sakura!" Kero flew towards the impending fight, his own Seal of Sakura appearing below him, his wings expanding largely and closing his tiny body in for a moment before he emerged in his true beastly form, a golden winged lion. "I'm coming!" he roared.

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Standing on top of the roof of a taller building several blocks away was Capaneus. He smirked at the impending clash as he lowered a pair of binoculars. "It would seems my experiments are a success so far. I love it." he snickered to himself. He lifted his field glasses back up to his eyes. "Everything is falling into place, Lord Ares. Soon you'll have your precious sorceress and I can proccede with phase two..." he said as his smile grew wider. "... That is if she can get through this trial alive." Capaneus laughed into the night air.

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**Chapter six is now offically over! What an interesting turn of developements we have, ne? Have Sakura's friends really gone all turncoat on her? Maybe. Are the bronze saints going to show up next chapter? Maybe. Will the autheress ever give a strait answer? NEVER! **

**But on a serious note, I deticate this insanely early update on the annual 9-11 tragety of the Twin Towers. I myself was very close to losing someone that day. **

**Send updates and be on the look out for the seventh chapter! Salute!**

_**Japanese 101**_

**Moshi, Moshi: Greeting someone over the phone**


	7. Warriors of The Goddess

_**Warriors of The Goddess**_

Sakura dodged to the left just before Chiharu made into melee striking range. Her punch would have most definately done serious damage had the sorceress not moved away. Sakura however didn't escape Yamazaki as he followed through behind the female warrior. He delivered a non too gentle kick to Sakura's side, sending the girl tumbling away.

The pair of armored teens prepared to rush the girl while she was still down but before they could take a step towards her they found themselves dodging a fire attack from above. Keroberos let loose several golden fireball on his master's friends, if only to make them keep their distance. The large lion landed heavily in front of Sakura growling from deep in his chest as said girl rose to her feet. Sakura used Kero as a suport as she placed one hand on her side and winced. _'His kick nearly broke a rib.'_ she thought. _'What gave him that kind of strength? It feels like I got hit by The Power card.'_

"Are you okay?" Keroberos asked, never once taking his eyes of the pair who would harm Sakura.

Sakura nodded. "I'll be okay." she assured while pulling herself together. "But be careful not to get hit by them. It felt like someone took a sledgehammer to my side."

The lion nodded, his golden slitted eyes narrowing. _'It has to be the cosmos I scense in them. Cosmos has the power to amplify anyone's overall strengh no matter how physically weak they really are.'_

"Looks like her overgrown house-cat decided to play with us." Sakura and Kerobero's attention was drawn to Takashi as his words rung through the air. Chiharu was not too far from him. Both looked unimpressed. Yamazaki smirked. "Okay, koneko-chan, let's see how you stack up." With that the pair charged, Takashi aiming at Keroberos while Chiharu went for Sakura.

Keroberos took to the air making Yamazaki miss landing a punch. The magical lion gulped in a breath, magically super heating it in his gullet, and released a stream of newborn fires down on the green clad boy who challenged him. Yamazaki ran, magical fire tailing after him, leaving backened stone behind him. Kero knew he had to be particularly careful not to really hurt the boy. He may be the enemy, but he and the girl were also the victims, forced to be pawns in someone's twisted game.

"JUMP!" Sakura called as she dodged her friend again, this time putting much more distance between them. However, Chiharu managed to match Sakura as she pumped cosmos into her legs, giving them extra strength. Sakura ducked and dodged the flurry of punches and kicks from her friend most of the time. Several hits had managed to clip her in the sides or on her arms. With each thrown punch or kick Chiharu was becoming faster in her relentless assult.

Takashi, for his part, was growing tired of this game of Cat-and-Mouse; him being the provebial mouse and Kero being the literal cat. It only served to ignite greater anger and hatred he'd already been feeling. "Enough of this!" he screamed before launching himself in the air. When he reached a height paralle to Kerobero he focused cosmos into his open palm as constellation of Orion appeared behind him. The ball cosmos turned into a bow and arrow, Yamazaki pointed it strait at the winged lion. Smirking, he shouted, "HUNTER'S ARROW!"

Keroberos barely had time to erect his golden barrior around him when the arrow of pure cosmos shot at him like a bolt of lightning. "That was too close." he muttered to himself. That attack was near identical to Yue's arrows; it was slightly slower, but still very strong, and it was green instead of pale blue.

Yamazaki grinned. "Baka neko, you didn't honestly think melee was the only thing I had going for me, did you?" he laughed something that sounded like he was going insane. "I've got other aces up my sleeve I haven't used yet."

Kero stared at Takashi with a critical eye as the boy tried to taunt him. Dozens of tactics and statagies rushing in and out of his head a mile a minute. The difficulty level of this fight just seemed to rise with this new little twist.

Over with Sakura, the young sorceress had bruises and small cuts all over. It wasn't nearly enough to put her down, the pain was bearable. She had just seen the attack Yamazaki did and was now beginning to worry for her guardian. "Kero-chan!"

Chiharu glanced over her shoulder at the lion and the hunter. "Looks like Lines for Eyes stopped holding back. Well in that case," she looked back at Sakura, her dangerous smile going unseen by the magic user. "I can't very well let a boy show me up." Chiharu lowed herself until she sat on her hunches as the claw on her gauntlets enlonged and her cosmos flared, Ursa Major's image floating above her. "WILD SLASH!"

The attack came quickly. Chiharu's speed made her look almost like a blur. Sakura cried out in surprise and pain when a three clawed slash appeared on her right shoulder, then across her back, and on her left leg. Sakura paniced, she couldn't see the attacks!

"Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo's horrified and histarical voice echoed from her hidding place. "Chiharu-chan, matte kudasai, you're hurting our friend!" Tomoyo's pleas were pointly ignored by her classmate.

"What's the matter, can't tell where I am?" Chiharu's voice seemed to come from everywhere as after images began to appear. "You're way out of our league, little cherry blossom."

Sakura gritted her teeth as she thought quickly. She had to stop her friend's movements, or at least keep up with her. An idea then hit Sakura. Chiharu was the faster one between them and the better fighter so Sakura just has to match her, and she knew just which cards to use. Sakura pulled out and threw up two cards. "DASH, FIGHT! Lend me your powers!" A blue-violet fox-like creature and a serious looking blue fighter girl appeared breifly before their images bursted into streams of energy and converged around Sakura. She then lowered herself into a defensive stance, her legs apart, her right hand out slightly, and her left arm hovering protectively in front of her chest.

Chiharu slashed at Sakura again only to have the sorceress stop her by knocking her attacking hand away. She slashed again with her other hand in a follow through. This time Sakura sidestepped her, evading to the right before she gave a swift kick to Chiharu's stomach. The soldier of Major Ursa stumbled back a few steps and snarled before she continued on to attacking.

The warrioress didn't know how it was possible, but the new powers Sakura had called were now allowing her to not only keep up, but block and exchange equally devistating attacks blow for blow! It frustrated her to no end.

Tomoyo gave a sigh of relief. Sakura and Kero had a better chance to win now that they were all on an equal playingfield. But the fact remained that they needed a way to overpower or at least knock out Yamazaki and Chiharu before something terrible happened to them.

The way the Daidouji girl had been hoping for then made itself known when the roof entrance door was suddenly knocked open with a loud bang. All the fighters and one spectator turned to see a tall blond man in a open dark blue short sleeved botton shirt with a white tanktop underneath and black pants and boots appear at the door.

Icy blue eyes narrowed at the sight of the armored Chiharu and Yamazki when he zeroed in on them. "Is this a private party or is anyone invited?" he asked.

Tomoyo felt a shiver run up her spine. His voice sounded very cold. "Oh my!" The blond looked at Tomoyo out of the corner of his eye. "You're one of those guys we met at the airport earlier!"

"The name's Hyoga," He flashed a small smile then gave a determined frown as he turned back to the four fighters. "The Bronze Cygnus Saint of Athena." The annoncement was followed by a pale blue-ish-white light that erupted around him, making his intent to jump into the fight clear. "You girls stay back. I'll handle them now."

If Sakura's two misguided friends weren't interested in the newcomer before, they certainly were now. "Looks like the new guy wants to have at it with us." Takashi stated.

Chiharu clicked her tongue in an irrated way. "Humph, so what?" she said to her partner before looking back at the blond. "Mind your own business, blondie, I'd hate to have to mess up such a nice face."

Hyoga smirked. "Sorry little missy, but I just can't leave and let the likes of you pick on a pair of ladies."

"How touching." Yamazaki said sarcastically. "This might change things, Chiharu."

"No it doesn't!" Chiharu spat. "He's just another name on our hit list. We just kill him and be done with it."

"You wish." A third silver coffer like the ones that appeared for Chiharu and Takashi appeared and settled itself gently in front of Hyoga. This time the picture on the coffer was of a simple swan with open wings. Hyoga wasted no time in opening it, revealing his white-sliver swan cloth with gold patterns and designs in its dormant state; its head looking skyward, neck tilted in a graceful arch, and its large wings spread wide for takeoff as it stood balanced on one webbed foot on top of a sheild.

Tomoyo found herself awing at the realistic art of the Cygnus cloth's beauty as it sparkled in the night before it disassembled itself, turning into peices of armor and responding to its wearer's call. The blond lept into the air where his cloth converged on him. Gone were Hyoga's street clothes, in their place was a tight sleeveless white bodysuit. Greaves, gauntlets, chestplate, guards of every kind and finally the head dress slipped onto his body in smooth timing until the blond stood proudly in full body armor with large metal wings protruding from his back. Tomoyo turned her camera to get a shot of him in all his icy glory.

Chiharu once again readied herself for her special attack that she used on Sakura a few minutes ago before Hyoga showed up. "We'll see about that, duck boy! WILD SLASH!"

Hyoga sidestepped her when she made her first swipe at him. He dodged her next few attacks cleanly without missing a beat as well. Whether the girl realized it or not, she was definently outclassed. He may be a Bronze Saint by rank but Hyoga and the others were Gold Saints by power and their cloths were closer to divine cloths than any other. Also, he noticed, though her attacks were fast, at least as fast as a Silver Saint's, her moves were awkward and reaction time was lagging. Her body obviously wasn't used to moving at such high speeds.

The blond then took to the offensive by ramming his fist into her gut when the girl was making another pass at him. A loud crack echoed as her cloth spider webbed at the point of impact. Given her speed and the stopping power behind his fist, he knew if he hit her again in the same spot her cloth in that area would shatter completely and he could deal the girl some serious internal damage. He sent the brunette flying several yards away and hit the ground skidding and rolling until she stopped near the edge.

"Chiharu!" Yamazaki called as he watched her land on the opposite side of the roof from him. He looked back at Hyoga and growled out, "I'll kill you for that! ORION CLUSTER SHOT!" He sent out twenty-five cosmos arrows at once at Hyoga who dipped and dodged between them.

When the last arrow passed harmlessly by him, the air around Hyoga began to freeze and snowflakes fell. "My turn. Daimond Dust!" Hyoga punched forward, sending a small bizzard's worth of ice and snow rushing at Takashi. The ice ridden cosmos froze the ground along the way.

Sakura, Keroberos, and Tomoyo watched the attack with a mix of awe, worry, and a bit of horror. Takashi managed to dodge the brunt of the attack but still got caught in the side. Yamazaki screamed when his left side froze and he was thrown back.

Hyoga sniffed at the lack of compitition these two offered. The blond cocked his fist back again, ready tho finish them, when the one he was defending stepped in his path and threw her hands out at her up sides protectively.

"Out of the way."

Sakura shook her head. "No, I won't! Those are my friends you're hurting."

Hyoga glanced between the slowly returning to their feet warriors then at Sakura and frowned. She these two were her friends?!

"They were attacking you. They tried to kill you." he reasoned.

"It's not their fault!" Tomoyo said as she came out of her hidding spot. "They're not really like this, they don't mean any of it."

Now that he thought of it, weren't these two at the airport earlier with Sakura an her friend? They looked pretty normal and seemed friendly then. Also, he hadn't scensed any levels of cosmos higher than normal for regular people from them back then. Then that could've meant someone had tampered with their minds. Hyoga swore under his breath. He had to put them down as quickly and relitively as painless as possible. If he didn't knock them out soon they might do something stupid and end up dead before the night was through.

"Hyoga!"

The blond's ears perked at the familiar soft but urgent voice that called his name. He looked up into the twilight to see three armored, winged figures drop from the sky. Andromeda Shun, Phoenix Ikki, and Dragon Shiryu landed quickly then flanked the Cygnus Saint.

"Great," Chiharu grumbled as she held her pained abdomen. "More party crashers."

Yamazaki grunted in agreement as he tried to rub away the ice. "This wasn't part of the plan. We're outnubered now."

The four Saints stood ready to attack Yamazaki and Chiharu.

They would have attacked to had Kerobaros not positioned himself in their way not unlike his master. "Stay your hands!" he ordered. "If you attack them, I will attack you, Athena's Saints or not."

The four were a little taken aback by the talking winged lion. They saw some pretty weird things in their lives but this was a first.

"But they-" Shiryu started but was cut off.

"No 'buts'!" Kero said loudly, a warning growl rolling deep from in his thoat. He then turned to Sakura. "Now that they are weakened, try putting them to sleep. They won't put up much of a fight anymore."

Sakura nodded, though she eyed the Saints warily. Everyone watched her fish out a pink card and threw it into the air where it twirled until she tapped it with the tip of her wand and called out, "SLEEP CARD! Put Chiharu-chan and Yamazaki-kun to sleep!"

The card disappeared and in its place was a tiny blue pixie with a wand. The Saint's stared in wonder at the little creature that was so small it could fit in the palms of their hands. Little, wide blue eyes scanned the area for its intended targets, smiling with a mischevious glint in its eyes when it sighted the Saints but ignored them, and darted over to its master's injured friends. The cardian waved its wand and small bits of glittery pixie dust fell like lightly falling snowflakes over them.

Yamazaki gritted his teeth when he felt fatigue creep up on him. The boy stuggled to fight off its pleasent lull and promises of painless rest and comfort. Not far away his partner too was fighting to stay awake but she was already losing the battle as she fell to her hands and knees then down on her side as she passed out with a sleepy sigh of resistance. The pull of sleep was becoming stronger and his body was beginning to answer its call. He looked up at Sakura, Tomoyo, and the Saints and gave a low growl. "B-blast you." he snapped out, his voice becoming no stronger than a whisper. Then he smirked. "You've taken the... battle, but the... war is... not over." He fell to his knees and sunk further down still, he eyeslids heavy. "Ares-s-sama... will... destroy... ..." he trailed off into silence as his mind could no remain alert. Now he slept in his own world of peaceful dreams.

The Saints stared at the two wo lay before them. They barely caught what the boy said before he slipped into the relm of Hypnos.

"So this is Ares' doing?" Shiryu broke the silence.

"It would appear so." The four Saints snapped the heads towards Keroberos in slight surprise. They had forgotten he was still standing there. The magical lion gave a exasperated sigh, used to the reactions his appearence brought from people, and mearly said, "Get over it." before approaching the two fallen teens to examine their sleeping forms.

"Kero-chan," Sakura said as The Sleep returned to its card form. "Will they be okay?"

Kerobero nodded his large gold and ruby clad head. "Yes, I believe they will make a full recovery. They simply need time to rest. However," He looked over his shoulder at the six standing teens, particularly at the Saints. "These armors need to go if I'm to heal them and erase their memories of tonight."

The four Saint's took that their cue to help take off the pair's cloths.

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Capaneus sighed as he lowered his binoculars again, a slight frown marring his face.

"Well, that was rather anti-climatic." came a soft male voice.

The dark haired servent of Ares smiled. He had sensed this person's presence well before he spoke. "But all the same, I've killed two birds with one stone today, regardless of the appearance of Athena's Saints. That was a minor set back. My experimental cloths showed me great promise. They were able to forcefully surface untapped wells of cosmos in average humans as well as alter their normal behavioral patterns turning them violent." Capaneus' smile grew wider. "Also, I managed to evaluate the girl. She was able to keep up with them before and after augmenting her own prowess, thus allowing her to adapt when the situation changed." He tuned to looked at his companion.

Nothing could be seen of the person who stood with Ares' right hand under the dark hood and cloak he wore. "What of the the cloths you gave those children? Will you take them back? And what about beast with the sorceress?"

"I care not for the cloths, they were merely proto-types. They damage too easily if a _Bronze _Saint could break them. They servered their purpose. In an hour or so they will ultimatly lose their core power source and become no more that heaps of decorative metal." Capaneus shrugged. "As far as the lion goes I do not know. It could be something of her own creation. Creatures like that don't exist in a literal sense anymore. Not for centuries. I'd like to capture and experiement on it after we take the girl to His Grace."

A light sigh came from the hooded man. "You and your experiements. Anyway," he looked up just enough for Capaneus to snatch a glimpse of amithyst colored eyes under the veil of the hood. "Lord Ares wishes your presence immediately. He wants the report you just gave me." The cloaked man then turned away and disappeared into the night with a flash of light.

"Maa, maa, I'm coming." Capaneus gave the hotel roof a final glance. "Such a fasinating subject she is. Shame I'm not allowed to study her more closely. Oh well." With that, Capaneus teleported away.

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**That's the end of the seventh chapter, folks! Wow, this is my longest chapter so far. Sakura and the Saints have met! A little of Capaneus' character has been revealed! Ares' plans for Sakura are still unknown and wait! Who's this new guy in the story!? Should I allow Chiharu and Yamazaki to somehow keep their cursed cloths for latter? Should I give Naoko, Risa, and/or Tomoyo cloths? You'll just have to find out in the next chapter! Send me reviews please! See ya later sometime!**

_**Japanese 101**_

**Koneko-chan: Little kitten**

**Baka: Stupid, fool, idiot, moron**

**Neko: Cat**

**Matte Kudasi: Please stop/ Stop please**


	8. Getting To Know You And Making Plans

**Getting To Know You And Making Plans**

**IMPORTANT MESSAGE, PLEASE READ!**

**I will inform all my readers that for the next few days I will be going into overdrive to update this fic as much as possible. I'll be moving in a few days and I won't be able to write for at least maybe a week or two, so expect at least one or two updates everyday until Friday. **

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"Will they be okay Kero-chan?" Tomoyo ask as she knelt by a sleeping Chiharu's legs

Keroberos wings were spread wide over the two fallen teenagers as he stood between them, the Seal of Sakura slowly spinnig beneath his paws, and a low glow of gold encasing him and the two injured teens. Keroberos' slitted yellow eyes opened and regarded the dark haired girl's worried expession and spoke to ease her worries, "Again, Tomoyo, they will be fine. After they heal I will look through their memories to see what needs to be forgotten and just where they got those armors from."

"You can see peolpe's memories?" The Andromeda Saint blurted out. "Um.. sorry.. I, uh.. I didn't mean to..."

"It's fine and speak normally. I can't understand you if you studder."

"Oh, yes, um... I still don't know your name." Shun said tantatively as he watched the giant beast heal and close wounds with rapt attention. He'd always been more interested in healing others rather than hurting them.

"I am one of two protectors of the Sakura Cards and their mastress. I am ruled and empowered by the sun, I am Keroberos, Guardian Beast of The Seal." The gold lion turned to the green haired boy and nodded. "And yes, young one, I can read memories, but only recent memories within the last several months or so. I could go further if I put enough effort into it but it takes up much of my power to penetrate the mind too deeply." He then looked back down at his charges. "I prefure not to needlessly waste my energy unless it's a must to use it. Besides, memories help make the soul, I do not particularly like fiddling with souls. But these children may know something of our new enemy and those cursed things they were wearing so it is unavoidable."

"They're called cloths." Shiryu corrected. "And they aren't bad themselves, it's the users that can make them seem that way."

Keroberos looked up to the Dragon Saint sharply. "Do not imply these two attacked us deliberately of their own will. I know for a fact they were never violent like this. I've watched them for over three years now and never once have they lashed out with such viciousness and with such a level of disregard for life, especially towards Sakura."

Shiryu inclined his head. "Forgive me, I hadn't meant for it to come out that way." For some odd reason, the lion's jabbing reprime struck him in the near same way Dohko's would've. His heavy heart lightened, if only a little. The way this Keroberos spoke sort of reminded him of Master Roshi. His voice was deep and calm, powerful, wisened and tempered with old age and experience.

Keroberos nodded, accepting the apology. "What you say maybe true, but I sense a violent storm of energy in those cloths, much different from the calm peace I can feel in yours." Kero explained. "That is why I asked you all to rid them of those armors."

Ikki had to agree. He himself felt a strange and intense sort of anger and hate coming of the cloths. It reminded him of the time when he was being controled and his own hatred was amplified and directed towards everyone around him, including Shun. Ikki looked at the winged beast then glanced at the strange cloths he helped pull off the to felled two in front of him. He frowned suspiciously. "I think we should take these to Athena. She might be able to figure out what Ares wants."

"We might have to call Yukito or Eriol-kun, Kero-chan." Sakura informed, still keeping a watchful eye on her newly healed friends.

"Who's Yukito and Eriol?" Hyoga asked.

"They are our allies." Kerobero said as he retracted his healing magic and moved over until he was hovering over Yamazaki's head.

Tomoyo nodded as Keroberos pressed his muzzle to the dark haired boys forehead. A small glow entered the large feline's eyes as he searched Yamazaki's memories and removed knowlegde of tonight before repeated the process on Chiharu. "Tsuikshiro Yukito is the vessel for Yue, Sakura-chan's moon guardian, and Hiragizawa Eriol-kun is a powerful sorcerer and a good friend."

Keroberos retreated from his mind scanning and snorted. "I can handle Hiragizawa coming, I'll get to challange Suppi again that way, but do we really need Yue?" annoyance clearly rung in his voice, making him sound less old man and more young child. "And Ruby Moon for that matter."

"Suppi?" Shun asked.

Ikki raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with this Yue and Ruby?"

"Well," Tomoyo began with a small giggle. "Suppi is really a nickname for Spinel Sun, Kero-chan's fellow sun guardian under Eriol-kun and main rival. Ruby Moon is also Eiol-kun's moon guardian like Yue is Saura-chan's." She explained then turned to the magical lion. "And there's nothing wrong with Yue-san and Ruby-chan being here."

Keroberos' hackles raised. "That bishounen brother of mine is a cold-hearted, attention stealing, lazy know-it-all stick in the mud who doesn't even know what the word 'socialize' means and brushes everyone off with his 'I'm-too-cool-for-you' attitude!" He pouted. "And don't get me started on Ruby. I can't call her 'she' or 'he' and really mean it! I can only call Ruby an 'It' because that one doesn't even have a gender!"

After listening to and watching the gold and ruby clad beast's childish tirade Shiryu had half a mind to take back what he thought about him being like his master.

Sakura huffed slightly. "Don't say mean things about them, Kero-chan." She scolded. "Now, we need to get them inside before anyone notices we're gone." She gestured to Chiharu and Yamazaki.

"Yes, your sensei will be making rounds soon," Keroberos nodded, slightly put out by the scolding. He then lifted his wings, Sakura's magic circle appearing once more, and his body lifted off the ground. His wings closed around him forming a feather caccon for a moment before opening again, revealing Keroberos' tiny false form. "And I don't think you want to explain to him why you're up after curfew." He finished in his squeaky little voice as his wings receaded.

The Saints all stared at Kero in surprise. "What happened to you?" Shun asked.

"What you're looking at is my false form." Kero exlpained. "I stay in this form to conserve my energy when I don't need it."

"Wait a minute," Hyoga turned to the tiny beast. "You're that doll I picked up at the airport, aren't you?"

Kero looked a the blond and nodded. "Yeah, and dude your hands were freakin' cold! I felt like I was laying on a block of ice."

Ikki and Shiryu then picked up th two unconcious high school kids and made for the roof door when they were halted by Hyoga. "You guys should leave you cloths with us. Don't need to attract unwanted attention." the blond said as he and Shun carefully placed the cloths of Ares back into their resective coffers. 

Shun agreed and added his assurance, "We'll be right here waiting."

The two dark haired Saints nodded and allowed their cloths to leave them for the time being. Ikki and Shiryu then followed after Sakura and Tomoyo as they carried Yamazaki and Chiharu inside.

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As Sakura closed the door to room 518, Chiharu's room, Shiryu and Ikki walked up to her from down the hall where Yamazaki's and all the other boy's rooms were. Tomoyo had gone back to their room to turn in or, as Sakura would bet her entire savings account on, to start designing a new battle costume to wear now that there was a chance that Sakura was about to go on a new adventure.

"Kinomoto-san!"

The green eyed girl looked up at Shiryu questioningly. "Hai?"

"We'd like for you to come to Sanctuary with us." the long haired teen stated.

Kero crossed his tiny arms and eyed the two Saints with new found suspicion. "Doshite? What's this Sanctuary place? I've never heard of it."

"Sanctuary is a place hidden from the eyes of the world. It's the place where most Saints come from. Many of us live, work, and train there in secret." Ikki explained and crossed his arms. "I suppose you could also call it our base of operations."

The owner of the Dragon cloth then added, "We were sent by Kido Saori. She wants to speak with you."

Sakura blinked at the name. "That girl who runs the Graude Foundation? Isn't she the grand-daughter of that billionair who died a few years ago, Kido Mistumasa?" The small brunette noticed how the pair in front of her seemed to tighten up a little at old man Kido's name, Ikki more so than Shiryu, but didn't push the matter. It wasn't her business to know.

"Hai, she is." Ikki said as he forced himself to not appear as anything other than calm when the name of that man passed her lips.

The dragon nodded. "But she is also the mortal incarnation of the goddess Athena-sama." The young cherry blossom was nearly floored. She would've never guessed the world's richest teenage girl was also a goddess in human form! Shiryu either didn't notice her reaction or didn't care as he continued, "You don't have to come with us at this very moment, but we need to be in touch with you."

"Most gods don't usually care for mortals who haven't sworn loyalty to them, but for some reason Ares has his eyes on you." Ikki told her. "That means you're powers have sparked his interest or you might have something he may want."

When the phoenix spoke these words Sakura was instantly reminded of her dream. That man in her dreams, could he have been Ares? She didn't know. She didn't even know what the God of War looked like!

Sakura nodded. "I understand. Tomorrow I could probably get away. From nine to one we'll be touring the city and going to the National Museum of Athens, after that my afternoon is free, but I'll have to be back by six or so."

"That's perfect." Though Shiryu's face remained mostly nuetral his voice carried a little more enthusiasm.

"We could get Athena to make Tatsume to pick you up at the museum." Ikki suggested. "He's a grouchy old pain in the butt but if it's for Athena he'd go to Hades and back just to make her happy."

"Ano... is it possible for Tomoyo-chan to come with me?"

Ikki raised an eyebrow. "The camera girl?" Sakura nodded. The two Saints looked at each other in question and shrugged. "I guess so. She already knew about you and now us."

"Just make sure you keep an eye on her. Not everyone in Santuary would appreciate her presence." Shiryu hinted towards the trouble she might get into.

Sakura gave a wide smile. "Arigato gozaimasu!"

"Do itashi-mashte." Shiryu smiled in return.

Ikki then turned. "Ja mata." He waved as he walked towards the elevator.

Shiryu bowed. "Oyasumi nasai, Kinomoto-san. It was a pleasure meeting you." He then quickly followed after his comrade-in-arms to meet the remaining Saints on the roof.

The seventeen year old watched as the Saints rounded the corner of the hall and out of sight. Sakura sighed to herself, wondering just what she'd gotten herself into this time?

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**Wuz up everyone! A new chaper up, a new chaper done. We're beginning to reach a turning point in my baby which is also known as this story. Hahaha! Soon we'll find out just who the man behind the mask is... well.. under the hood really. Is he friend, or is he foe? I don't know... ... okay so I do know. But I'm not telling you guys yet. Also some secrets may be revealed. If ya wanna find out what happens next, read the next chapter and review. **

**Oh, and before I go, heres another addition of:**

_**Japanese 101**_

**Doshite: Why**

**Arigato Gozaimasu: Thank you very much**

**Do Itashi-mashte: Your welcome**

**Ja Mata: See you later**

**Oyasuni Nasi: Good night**


	9. Sanctuary: The Home of Saints

**Sanctuary: The Home of Saints**

Sakura impatiently glanced at her wrist-watch, as she followed her classmates around the halls of the museums. She barely glanced at any of the historical pieces when they stopped to look at them or walked by, opting to check either her surroundings for anything/anyone unusual or to look over towards Chiharu and Yamazaki. The pair were as normal as they were before last night's fight. They showed no sign of injury or memory. Kero had done a formidable job on erasing all traces of what happened. He spent the better part of the night magically cleaning and fixing all the damages done to the hotel roof with the help of several Sakura Cards like The Bubble.

He and the cards came fluttering back in the room via the balcony door, which Sakura had left open a cack, earlier that morning a few hours before Sakura and Tomoyo rose from their beds. The cards returned to their book and Kero had dropped dead tired on Sakura's pillow. By the time Sakura and Tomoyo had been ready to leave Kero was still curled up on Sakura's bed sawing logs like a Lumberjack.

Kero hadn't woken up yet as he was now sleeping the day away inside the confines of Sakua's purse.

Sakura looked at her watch again, it read 12:48 p.m., that meant some one from Sanctuary, Tatusme, would be coming to get them soon. She wished Chonos would turn the wheels of time a little quicker. She could do it herself, but making time go even five minutes faster sapped most of her strength. She wanted answers about what happened last night and those answers might be in Sanctuary.

Tomoyo, who was standing next to her, nudged Sakura's shoulder. "Still thinking about last night?"

"I can't help it." Sakura looked up at the backs of all her surrounding classmates. "I can't stop thinking that what happened to Yamazaki-kun and Chiharu-chan could happen again to the others or even you."

Daidouji nodded empathetically, her shoulders falling into a slump. "Yeah, I guess it could." Then she immediatly perked up. "But don't worry, we have some new friends who can help now. Not to mention they're working for a goddess." Tomoyo smiled sweetly in an attempt to cheer her cousin up.

The sorceress nodded and said, "Yeah, I guess you're right." She smiled back at Tomoyo. "We do have allies, we also have help from a goddess, and we know who were up aganst." Her smile then fell a fraction. "I just hope we can fight him. He is Ares after all, the God of War."

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan. Everything will turn out fine." Tomoyo placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder as they continued on through the museum. "Yes, everything will be okay in the end."

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Outside, the sun shined bright, the skys were mostly clear and blue, the air was warm, and every so often a light breeze brushed by. The birds chirped and sang and daily songs of life while the bees buzzed around the flowers Tourists bustled by going in and out of shops, families walked through the streets without care, the children played while their parents watched, and lovers held hands and showed their affections in abandoned as they looked for places that could be deemed as romantic. Today, overall, could easily be called a perfect day.

Of course, all the liveliness of Athens around Tatsume just flew over his head. The bald man grumbled in annoyance as he stood with folded arms near the rear right passenger side of a sleek jet black limo. In front of him was the National Museum of Athens where he was supposed to meet someone. Instead of enjoying the day like everyong around him, most of Tatsume's energies went towards his black mood, thoughts of the bane of his existance, the Saints, and the current assignment his young employer had given him.

As far as the Saints went, Tatsume didn't trust them. They were supposed to protect Soari as she was Athena, but instead they were always finding some way to put her in danger. In fact, some of them had even threatened her life! They shot her with an arrow, one of them, that homicidal bipolar Gemini, tried to stab her as an infant and actually did three years ago, then those suicidal Gold Saints dragged her into Hades! The nerve of them!

Not to mention one of those Bronze brats, that green haired pretty-boy, was the mortal incarnation of he Lord of The Underworld himself! His brother was no better and proved to be emotionally and mentally inbalanced.The long haired one probably didn't like his own eye sight because he had blinded himself twice before and was a glutton for pain seeing as he usually was always broken boned and/or bleeding buckets after fights. How the boy never died from any of it, Tatsume could only guess. The blond one was always quiet and angsty over his dead mother and teacher even if he killed one of them with his own hands. And finally there was that comatose brat, Seiya. Tatsume was almost seething at the thought of that one. The pegasus was never quiet and alway obnoxiously loud, he liked to play childish pranks on everyone, especially him. He was always playing the 'Hero' and was almost like that Shiryu boy when it came to getting beaten within an inch of his life. Yeah, he had no reason to trust the safety of his Ojou-sama to them.

Tatsume sniffed irratedly as he cast a gloomily dark look up towards the white-washed building that held so much of this city's history within its walls. He was told to pick up and escort a girl named Kinomoto Sakura and her friend Daidouji Tomoyo. He also managed to find out that this Sakura person was a young and powerful sorceress, at least strong enough to take on a Saint. The manservent had to wonder just who this Kinomoto Sakura was for those Bronze pains to boast about her like that. He may not like the Saints, but he had to admit they were strong. What made her so important aside from the obvious for Saori Ojou-sama to call for an immediate audience with her as soon as possible.

"This was the second time in two days I've had to play piggy-back to some snot-nosed brat for Ojou-sama." he grouched. Despite this, it was Soari who asked him to come here today and whatever she asked, he would gladly do. Nothing was too big or too small a job for him if she commanded it.

Tatsume glanced at his watch, it was almost time for this Sakura girl to show up. "Maybe she won't come and I could just go back home." He hoped out loud.

His hopes however were dashed as he looked towards the museum stairs to see two young women walking uncertainly towards him. One was nicely tanned and had short brown hair and green eyes and seemed very nervous while the other was smoothly pale skinned and had long dark indgo hair pulled into a high ponytail with matching colored eyes and carried an air of ease as she smiled confidently at her friend. The former of the two dressed in a white short sleeve shirt with orange shorts and vest with white tennis shoes and the later in a periwinkle sleeveless dress blouse with violet flower pint and navy skirt that was an inche short of her knees with black shoes.

As they came to stand in front of Tatsume, the dark haired one spoke first. "Sumi-masen, are you Tatsume-san?" she asked pleasently

The bald man stared at the two for a moment, trying to pick out which was Sakura. Both appeared normal enough and both seemed fairly nice. The short haired one looked the type to be out-going, open, and most likely near perpetually happy as she gave a nervous but wide smile.

She reminded him of Seiya. Enough said.

Then there was the other young woman. Her smiling face put him on edge a little. She had an easy-going, almost aloof sort of look in her eyes. It was one of those knowing type of looks that made one think the owner held many secrets inside them.

Tatusme immediatly decided the dark haired one must have been Sakura. Unlike the short haired brunette, she moved with a grace and dignity that was remenicent to Saori Ojou-sama. That in itself spoke of one who was high-class and held power.

Tatsume uncrossed his arms and nodded. "Hai, watashi no namae wa Tatsume des. You must be Kinomoto Sakura-san and Daidouji Tomoyo-san?" The two bowed in greeting, which the older man returned, and gave a unison of "Hai." Tatsume then opened the limo door for the two. "I was instructed to escort you to Sanctuary by Saori Ojou-sama." He stated.

"So dess, arigato gozaimasu, Tatsume-san." The pale dark haired nodded as she stepped into the car with as much class and delicateness as the older man expected from her.

"Aa, arigato!" was the brunette's energetic agreement as she practically flew in after her friend. "Hoee! I've never been in a limo before!" Tatsume heard as he closed the door behind them and made his way towards the front seat with the driver. There was no way he was going to sit back there with that brown haired girl who was almost bouncing off the walls.

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Sakura and Tomoyo watched the scenery change as the car drove a little outside the city limits towards the sea where the high cliffs over looked the vast Mediterranean Sea. As the modern building began to grow smaller and spread out along the land, wide fields filled with wildflowers and toppled ruins became more abundant. They had just passed through a small town a moment ago when the car slowed to a stop just in front of ruined temple grounds from ancient times past.

A minute later Tatsume came to their passanger door and opened it. When Sakura and Tomoyo exited the car and took the moment to examine their surroundings Tstsume said, "Ladies, from here we must walk to enter Sanctuary."

"We have to walk?" Sakura asked, gainning a silent nod. "How far?"

"Not long, Sanctuary's gates are just a six minute walk through the ruins from here." He pointed towards said felled temple a few yards away.

Tomoyo stared long in the direction the bald man indicated. "Since I don't see anything, it must be very well hidden."

The manservent nodded. "That's right, the cosmos of Athena-sama is what keeps Sanctuary hidden." He explained. "Please be advised that no one must know of Sanctuary and its secrets once you leave." He warned, hinting at sever repercussions if they compromised Sanctuary's long kept secret location, before straightened his uniform and lead them towards Sanctuary. "Please follow me."

As the trio walked into the ruins, Sakura could feel massive amounts of energy in the air that was distinctively different from magic. It came rolling down on her in gentle but still crashing waves, though it did not do anything to dissuade her from tredding further. The ancient and powerful cosmos was only margenly ominous, if only to make her realize to magnatude of strength the person she was about to face had.

When they stepped through the invisable barrier wall between Sanctuary and the rest of the world, what felt like a slight bolt of static electicity shot through their head and raced down their backs. Sakura had to keep herself from jumping at the feeling. Movement in Sakura's bag drew the sorceress' attention. Though she hadn't bothered to open her purse, she could tell Kero was waking up. A moment later a small round yellow head slowly rose out of her bag. Kero gave a long and wide yawn before rubbing almost roughly at his blurry eye. Sakura could easily tell he felt the same sensation she did. Tomoyo tried to muffle her sudden sharp gasp when the world around her started to warp, twist, and fade into a different scene. It looked almost just like how The Illusion card would change the way the world looked around its victims.

Open flat fields turned into rising hills and small falling vallies, small wooden cabins dotted around the land, tall white columns stood either as individuals or in small clusters, the area was lightly forested and was surrounded by tall craggy rock faces on mostly all sides with the exception of where the cliffs looked out towards the sea. A large and wheathered coliseum stood not too far away. Several wide obstical courses that could be seen were all around between the little cabin homes and the coliseum. All of this surrounded a small mountain that had twelve snowy white temples of different sizes and shapes and capped off with the large temple with a tall statue of Athena looking down on Sanctuary behind it.

As the trio walked further into these sacred grounds Sakura couldn't help but notice that Sanctuary's population were made mostly of well built young men with only a handful of strong, shapely women that wore masks here and there. Everyone wore worn out trainning tunics and breechers with boots, some wore a little bit of leather armor, and some didn't wear anything but pants as they trained, worked, or simply walked and talked with each other. Only a few wore robes seen on those of ancient nobility. Everything here made her feel as though she just stepped into the past again. The place was full of natural beauty and there wasn't an once of technology or even power or telephone polls that could be seen anywhere here. Nothing that was common sight of the twenty-first century was in Sacntuary.

Sakura had a feeling that only she, Tomoyo, and Tatsume were the only people here wearing modern day cloths. That feeling only intensified when she saw all the odd and curious looks they'd been attacting.

"Tatsume! Sakura-chan! Tomoyo-chan!" The three stopped and turned to see a head of green hair come running from the trainning fields towards them.

"Shun-kun!" the pair of girls smiled as he approuched. "Kon-nichi wa!"

Shun gave them a chaming smile that would've melted the hearts of any other girl into goo. It was one of those things he did and somehow remained innocently naive to. It greatly reminded Tomoyo of Sakura. "Kon-nichi wa, ogeki dess ka?"

"We're fine." Sakura said. "Sanctuary is such an intersting place. It feels like I'm in ancient Greece or something."

Tomoyo nodded. "Yeah, it's kind of like finding a lost world here."

Shun laughed. "I guess so. Just between us," He lowered his voice playfully. "But many places that are 'lost' are actually just really well hidden, like Atlantis."

"Hoee?! Atantis exists?!"

Shun nodded. "Yep, I've actually been there once a few years ago. It's Poseidon's underwater version of Sanctuary." He explained. As the two girls awed and marveled at the groundbreaking information Shun turned to their escort. "You can go back to the mansion, Tatsume, I'll take them to Saori-san from here."

The taller man aknowledged this and gave a short bow to Tomoyo. "It was a pleasure meeting you Kinomoto-san."

"Uh, Tatsume," The bald man looked at the Andromeda Saint. "That's Tomoyo-chan, this is Sakura-chan." he pointed to the brown haired girl who waved at him.

There was an awkward silence before Tatsume coughed. "My apologies." He said embarassed before making himself scarce in a hurry.

When the man was no longer in sight a small voice broke out laughing. Kero fluttered out of Sakura's purse in a fit of laughter and holding his stomach. "H-he thought Tomoyo was Sakura!" he laughed so hard he couldn't fly and fell out of the air and landed in Sakura's open palms. "Oh, my gut hurts!"

Tomoyo and Shun giggled. "Alright, that's enough. Saori-san is waiting." Shun said with a wide smile as he ushered them towards the mountain where Athena's temple sat atop.

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**Hey everyone! Well we've wrapped another chapter and soon the good stuff will be rolling in. I've been most enthusiastic about this fic compared to my other fics. I'm so happy! Well anyway, a plot twist is coming soon and gues what... ... I won't tell you about it yet! Hahahaha! I'm so evil! I hope you've enjoyed the fic so far. See you in the next chapter!**

_**Japanese 101**_

**Ojou: Princess**

**Sumi-masen: Could be used as sorry or as excues me**

**Watashi no namae was... ...dess: My name is... ...**

**Hai: Yes**

**So Dess, Arigato Gozaimasu: That's right, thank you**

**Aa, Arigato: Yeah, thanks**

**Kon-nichi Wa: Good afternoon**

**Kon-nichi Wa, Ogeki Dess Ka: Good afternoon, how are you**


	10. This Calls For A Meeting

**This Calls For A Meeting**

Sakura panted as she and Tomoyo walked the many steps to Athena's temple. She was tired and sweaty, her clothes were beginning to stick to her like second skin, and her legs were burning from non-stop climbing. Glancing at her cousin, Sakura saw Tomoyo in the same state of fatigue, though she didn't show half as much as her. Shun however didn't look anywhere near as tired as Sakura felt. He kept going as if he was just strolling through the park. On his head amist the downy soft green hair was Kero. The Saint and the Guardian Beast seemed deeply engrossed about several things Shun hearded about sorcery, what was myth and what was fact.

So far the four had passed eight temples, the Houses of Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, and Scorpio, with the Sagittarius Temple not too far ahead. It was strange, each time Sakura passed through these temples she felt a cold stabbing sensation shoot through her body and an unusual scense of dread and sarrow creeped into her heart as they walked to each temple of the zodiac. It felt like something inside her was dying and grew stronger with each temple they passed. Sakura couldn't help but wonder where all of these negative emotions were coming from.

It was almost ironic that it was Tomoyo who voiced her concerns, "Shun-kun, why were all the temples we passed so empty?" She looked at the looming House of Sagittarius. "They look like someone could live in them, but nobody was in them. I was expecting Athena-sama to have guards in them or something."

Shun stopped walking up the steps and grew quiet for a moment; his head hung, his shoulders slumped, and his eyes lowered to the ground sadly. He was practically radiating sorrow. When he spoke it was a low whisper. "There used to be people who lived in these temples. The Gold Saints of Athena. They were the twelve guardian Saints that protected this muntain. There were thirteen really, since the Gemini temple had twins."

"Where are they?" Sakura suddenly had a sinking feeling.

Shun bit his lower lip. "... They... they all.. died."

"... What happened to them?" Kero asked.

Shun looked up to the entrance to the ninth temple. He wondered if it was okay to tell them about what happened to the Gold Saints and the sad, shady story they left. He and his friends all helped kill five of them. What would they think... what would they say? It wasn't until he saw Sakura's intensely imploring look did he say anything. "... Just before the Holy Wars started, half died in in-Santuary battles when an imposter tried to take over by posing as the Holy Father, Pope Shion, after he murdered him... the other half died trying to save Athena when Hades tried to take over the world using something called the Greatest Eclipse." It was a short and vastly edited version of what happened, but it was the truth non the less. They didn't need to know all the details and he didn't want to go into them.

Sakura frowned deeply. She had a feeling there was more to the story than that, but she also know it was probably hard for Shun to say just what he had so she didn't push for more. Well, at least she had some inkling as to where these horrible feeling were coming from. Hopefully there were no lingering ghosts around.

"Well... shall we continue on?" Shun forced a smile and continued into the Sagittarius temple without looking to see if he was being followed.

Tomoyo and Sakura glanced at each other, their spirits lower than they were a few moments ago, and hurried after the chain master.

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Saori paced her throne room anxiously. She could scense Shun's cosmos growing nearer and nearer with each passing moment. That meant she'd get to meet with Kinomoto Sakura any minute now. She didn't know why she was nervous. Maybe it was the massive waves of unusual cosmos that was radiating off the sorceress? She didn't know. All she knew was that her brother, Ares, wanted her for something. She seriously doubted that something was to sit down with her to have tea and cakes while having a friendly chat about their day. No, whatever it was Saori was willing to bet her grandfather's company it wouldn't bode well for the world.

Ares was, according to Sanctuary's historic reports and her own personal knowledge on gods, known to be a very hostile, self-centered, and cunning god who never bothered with mortals unless they were at war with each other.

The few Silver and Bronze Saints that had ever been allowed to be close to Athena watched her try to wear a trench into the stone floor before she finally sat down. Shaina leaned heavily against the wall next to Marin and gave a small sigh. "Wanna tell me who this Sakura girl is?"

Marin stared at the door patiently. "I don't know much about her personally, but from what Shiryu told us, she's a young sorceress who unfurtunately caught the eye of Ares."

"A sorceress?" the green haired Amazon asked skepically, her raising eyebrow went unseen due to her mask.

Marin nodded. "I know what you're thinking because I'm thinking it too." She herself found that little tid-bit of information hard to believe. She'd only ever seen cosmos pull off what regular people would called the paranormal or a 'natural' phenomena most of her life. The only magic she ever witnessed were crappy illusions and slight of hand tricks. "But we have four Saints who can testify to what they saw her do. We can't say anything until she gets here."

"You can't seriously believe all that stuff?" Unicorn Jabu asked as he, Hydra Ichi, and Wolf Nachi walked over. "What they're saying about her doing some kind of hocus-pocus is all rubbish."

Nachi agreed. "If anything, I bet she manipulated her cosmos to make it look like magic."

"Or maybe she has phychic powers." Ichi added. "Some strong Saints have powers like that."

Shaina nodded. "They have a point."

"All good arguements," Marin shrugged. "But like I said, we won't know until she gets here and shows us."

"Well I for one hope she's the real deal." Cameleon June said, making her presence known. "I've never seen real magic before and I think it's kinda cool."

Jabu clicked his tongue and shoved his hands in his pockets irritably. "_Well, I for one_ wish she'd hurry up. I got better things to do today than wait around for little Miss. Magic." He took a secret glance towards Saori.

"Like oggle Saori-san?" Ichi smirked. He caught that look the Unicorn gave their goddess just now.

"Shut it or I'll introduce you to my fist!" Jabu threatened, raising said fist, making Ichi flinch back.

June's hand curled around Jabu's. "Cut it out, chidren." she said in such a sweetly patient-like tone that promised great pain if they didn't stop. June then turned her head towards the entrance. "I can sense Shun's right outside the door."

It hadn't been a moment later after June said that the large double doors to the opened. Andromeda Shun stepped into the room followed by two young teenage women. Shun lead the two to where Athena sat on her throne-like chair and where Ikki, Shiryu, and Hyoga stood. All the Saint's that dotted around the room moved in for a closer look at the pair.

In the eyes of the Saints, they looked like your average modern girls-next-door. They could both easily be called attractive by most of the present male Saints, seeing as some of them found themselves blushing. The only three female Saints were more curious about the pair than anything else.

"Saori-san," Shun greeted. "Kinomoto Sakura to Daidouji Tomoyo o goshokai itashi-mass. Girls," He then looked to the pair staring at Saori. "Kochira wa Kido Saori-san dess, but she is also Athena."

The two cousins bowed respectfully. "Kon-nichi wa, Athena-sama!"

Saori smiled. "Kon-nichi wa, it's nice to finally meet you both. Please, call me Saori."

Everyone in the room looked at Shun when he suddenly yelped in pain, his hands flying up to the top of his head. Hovering just above Shun's head was a small yellow cat creature with wings holding a lock of long green hair as it gave another sharp tug. Hyoga, who stood not too far away, bristled at the rough treatmeant of his boyfriend's lovely hair.

"You didn't introduce me! What am I, invisable?!" it asked, annoyance clearly in its voice. "I do exist, don't I?"

"Gomen nasai! I sort of forgot you were there." Shun said as he took back his hair and rubbed at the abused spot on his head.

Sakura scowled. "Don't do that to him, Kero-chan!"

"We're talking to a goddess, Sakura! What do I have to do to get attention?" he asked indignantly.

Saori watched the brunette and flying cat glare at each other for a moment before clearing her throat, gainning both their attention. Both human and cat immediatly looked embarrassed. "Uh, it's okay, really." She looked up at the cat dubbed 'Kero-chan'. She thought he was cute. "Now then, what's your name?"

Kero puffed out his tiny chest. "I am Keroberos, Guardian Beast of the Seal, milady goddess." He bowed at the waist.

Kero's round ears perked when he heard someone say, "He looks more like a stuffed animal than a beast."

"Who said that?!" Kero roared as he scanned the small crowd of Saints. "Who called me a stuffed animal?!" There was only a few things in the world that really irked Kero, but out of all of them, the worst thing was being called a 'stuffed animal'. It made his blood boil over everytime some said that taboo phrase.

Sakura sighed in exasperation while Tomoyo gave a light laugh.

"I did," Kero shot a glare at a dusty haired boy in a purple short sleeved muscle shirt that had a black stripe across his chest and black pant. "Unicorn Jabu."

"Take it back!" Kero demanded.

Jabu scuffed. "Why? That's what you look like."

The only thing stopping Kero from storming over to the boy was Sakura's hands that were now wrapped around him. The cocky grin was beginning to make Kero see red. "Oi, gaki, I'm your senior by over two hundred years! How dare you talk to me like that!"

Jabu lifted an eyebrow at the statement. "Really, because you look more like some child's plaything, baka neko-chan."

Kero was steaming. "Disrespectful, snot-nosed little punk." he then started thrashing, trying to get out of Sakura's hold. "Lemme at 'em! I gonna teach the little mule how to show his elders some respect!"

"Kero-chan calm down or I'll put you on a diet!"

Kero suddenly froze and looked at Sakura in horror. Seeing the serious look in her eye made the little guardian sigh in defeat. "Fine, you win. Just keep that 'My Little Pony' reject away from me and I won't do anything."

Several Saints snorted at the jab while Jabu scowled, trying to resist the urge to use his Unicorn Gallop on the little creature.

"I think we should save all this childish bickering for another time." Saori said, immediatly gaining everyone's attention. "Sakura-san, I need to know why Ares is after you. Do you have any Idea at all?"

Sakura shook her hear. "No, I don't, Athena-sama. I didn't even know you or he was real until last night." Saori sat back in her chair, a frown marring her pretty face.

"It all just came out of nowhere." Tomoyo added. "We just got to Athens yesterday afternoon."

"Ares had to have planned this." Everyone turned to Shaina. "Think about it, there's no way this is coincidence. Athena's visions, Sakura's arrival, and then an attack on Sakura."

Marin crossed her arms. "I agree, but the question remains, what does he want with her."

"It could be the Sakura Cards he's after." Kero suggested as he flew out of Sakura's hands.

Saori raised and eyebrow. "What are the Sakura Cards?"

At the question, Sakura fished out of her purse a pink and gold book with her name writen across the top in bold gold letters. Opening it, Sakura revealed a deck of cards with a magic seal on them inside. "These are the Sakura Cards." Kero looked at the the cards. The deck flashed once before they lifted up out of their neat stack and encircled their master, hovering in mid-air. "These fifty-three magic cards each holds an immense amount of magic power in them. My creator, a man named Clow Reed, created them with the purpose of helping him, however, the powers in these cards are almost wildly free spirited and aren't easy to control. Seperated, some can cause thousands worth in property damage.

"Together however, especially the four elemental cards, they can cause world wide chaos; tornados, eartquakes, typhoons, floods, volcanic eruptions, and any other natrual disaster you can think of. If they put their minds to it, they could cause a second Ice Age. They can be very distructive when unsealed and masterless."

The Saints stared at the flying cat in disbelief. There was no way such small things like cards could cause as much devistation as little guardian was implying.

Kero noted their unbelieving looks and crossed his arms. "Almost four years ago, one of the cards that went unsealed for months, The Nothing, now called The Hope, nearly wipped our hometown and everyone in it off the face of the planet in less than two hours. That particualar card has the power to completely erase everything and everyone from existance. No body, no soul, and no chance to have an after life. But now it also has the power to recreate, so long as its master has hope in them."

"How?" Shiryu asked. "How can such a power like that exist in the world without anyone noticing it?" he asked the one question that everyone was now thinking.

"Clow didn't want just anyone getting their grubby, unworthy hands on them unless they were chosen. He placed a seal on them, containing their powers until the seal was broken by the card's future master."

June then asked. "You said their master is chosen, who chooses their master."

"I do." Kero stated planely. "I select the candidates and train them. Then they are jugded by my brother, Yue, to see of they are fit to have the cards. If they pass the Final Jugdement, they keep the cards and we become their guardians. If they fail, they and everyone else who knows go back to a previous normal life without memories of the cards."

The room was silent as verious thoughts went through the minds of the Saints. After a moment, Saori spoke, "If what you say about these cards are true, then it would be their powers he would want."

Tomoyo nodded to that. "But, I'm not sure he would be able to take them." Everyone with the exception of Kero looked at her questioningly. "The cards are bound to Sakura-chan's life like Kero-chan's and Yue-san's. If the worst happens to her than the cards would disappear, ne, Kero-chan?"

Kero nodded.

"He might try mind control." Ikki suggested. "It's not all that hard. If Gemini Saga and I could do it, what's to stop him? Some gods have that ability. He'd have full control of her and she has full control over her cards."

The Phoenix's words left troubling thoughts in Sakura's mind. The possibilities of someone forcing their way into her mind to control her and her powers to hurt others scared her out of her wits.

Saori looked at Sakura and said, "Don't worry, we'll figure this out. I won't let Ares touch you." she assured. "...You're looking a bit worn out, Sakura-san. Maybe you should rest a bit." Saori stated, eyeing the girl's sagging shoulders. "We'll talk more later today after you've had a small nap. June," the goddess called to the Cameleon Saint. "Would you mind showing her to one of the guest bed chamers here in my temple?"

"Not at all, Lady Athena." She then took Sakura's shoulders and guided her towards the door. "This way, Miss. Sakura." She then looked over her shoulder. "C'mon, Miss. Tomoyo."

Tomoyo nodded and stepped forward but then noticed Kero wasn't following them. "Aren't you coming?" she asked.

Kero flashed her a grin. "Don't worry, I'll be right behind you soon. I'm going to talk to Lady Athena for a bit. I'll catch up." He then waved her off towards the door.

"Okay." Tomoyo then followed Juna and Sakura out the door.

When the door shut with an dull slam, Kero looked to all the Saints and their goddess. His bodied then glowed and the Seal of Sakura appeared on the ground under him. Most of the Saints and Saori tensed, the only ones who had an idea of what the flying fuzzball was doing was Shun, Shiryu, Hyoga, and Ikki. Kero's wings grew wide and large as they folded around him for a moment. When they opened again Keroberos stood proudly in his magestic true form before the mistical warriors and the lady goddess. Slitted eyes the color of molten gold took in their expected reactions that wasn't anything new to him; all were shocked, some awed, and most were impressed.

Wolf Nachi approuched some what cautiously. "What happened to you?"

Keroberos turned his head to look at the young Saint. "This is my true form." he explained in his deep bariton voice before pointly looking at Jabu. "It's a vast far cry from my _stuffed animal_ form, wouldn't you agree?" he asked grining, showing off two rows of sharp, inch long white fangs.

Shaina coughed, thankful that her mask hid her slack jawed expression earlier. "So why'd you transformed now?"

"I saw that most of you, like some other people I know, do not take me seriously enough while in my false body. This form tends to drive the point of my words home with greater ease." the lion stated rather bluntly. "Now then, I'd like to speak with you surrounding the matter of Sakura's protection." He started in a business-like tone with demanded attention from everyone in the room.

Saori nodded, sitting up a bit straiter in her chair. "Yes, I wanted to address this topic with one of you."

Keroberos sat down on his hunches, his long tail encircling his paws, his wings glowing gold before fading from existance, making him appear more like a regular maneless lion. "I understand you want to grant her some kind of protection against Ares should he decide to try to hurt or kidnap her."

"Yes, outside Sanctuary walls, Ares has a better chance a stealing her away." Saori stated. "Given how crowded the city gets this time of year, nobody would notice her absence until it was too late."

"Then the best way to prevent that is to keep her in Sanctuary." Shaina interjected.

Marin shook her head. "But there's another problem. Sakura and Tomoyo didn't come to Athens alone, they're here with friends and classmates, if I'm not mistake. That would complicate a few things if they began to wonder where she and Tomoyo keep disappearing to."

"Then might I suggest having a few Saints trail us?" Kero asked.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. We'd be in near constent contact with them and if something like last night happens again, we'd be there to help." Hyoga said.

Saori thought for a moment, then agreed, "Yes, that is a good course of action."

Keroberos nodded. "There is also one other thing I wish to discuss. Last night two of Sakura's friends were brain washed into attacking her because of those ... cloths... they wore. May I ask what happened to those metal monstrosities?"

"Not long after the cloths were brought in, they simply died." Saori informed. The look on the lion's face gave the impression he would be raising an eyebrow at her if he had any. "When a cloth loses its power, it essentially dies and becomes nothing more than a suit of pretty armor."

Kero gave an irratated and frustated sigh, blowing out a tiny puff of dark smoke. "I had wanted to examine those cloths. I wanted to find out how they turned two normal kids into bloodthirsty warmonggers."

The room once again grew quiet. Kero theb stood up on all fours. "Athena-sama, I have a request to make."

"What is it?" Saori asked curiously.

"I need to get in contact with several people and inform them of the situation at hand."

Athena blinked. "Who, might I ask, are these people?" she wasn't all too sure if she could except that kind of request. Opening Sanctuary's doors to strangers.

"The first is Hiragizawa Eriol and his guardians from England. Eriol is a young but powerful sorcerer who, in his own eccentric way, helps and trains Sakura." Saori nodded to that. "The second is another sorcerer from Hong Kong named Li Syaoran. He is head of the Li Can and his knowledge in the magical arts is second to Eirol's... and he is also Sakura's boyfriend." he said the last part grudgingly.

"The Li Clan?" Andromeda Shun asked as if something suddenly dawned on him, then turned to Saori. "The Graude Foundation has had dealings with that clan's business in the stock exchange, Li Enterprises."

That surprised Saori greatly along with several other Saints in the room who knew something of both businesses.

"I even met Li Syaoran not too long ago." Shun laughed to himself. "I never would have thought he was a sorcerer. He came across as the serious down-to-earth type who would sooner sell his company than believe in magic."

Kero shrugged. "Maybe, but the Kid's Clan on his mother's side all have magic in their blood. They are also the descendents of my creator. Now," he got serious again. "The last person I'd like to callis a young man named Tsukishiro Yukito."

"And who is he?" Saori asked.

"He is the mortal vessel for Yue, my brother and Sakura's Moon Guardian."

Athena nodded in acceptance of each of these names. They each carried a connection to Sakura and they were each weilded magic that may prove useful. "I will see what we can do to contact them and bring them here."

A court nod was all Athena recieved in gratitued. "Well then, we should countinue our meeting another time, peraphaps? For now we have much to think on and do, and I wish to find Sakura. If you'll excues me?"

"You are excuesed, Keroberos."

Kero bowed his massive head to Athena and her Saints before turning and walking towards the door, which glowed golden and opened with a creak. Kero disappeared around the corner as the door closed behind him.

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**YATTA! Chapter ten: COMPLETED! Wow, another long chap! Heh, my chapters will start to get longer since the scenes will be extended. If you're still waiting on the plot twist, don't worry, it's coming soon. Also, many of you a are most likely wondering 'where is Seiya', right? Well, he's still in a coma, but you'll see him sooner or later. It depends on how I can get to him. I,m wait'en on some reviews here, so send 'em. Peace out!**

_**Japanese 101**_

**... To ... O Goshokai Itashi-mass: May I introduce ... and ...**

**Kochira Wa... Dess: This is ...**

**Kon-nichi Wa: Good afternoon**


	11. The Lyra, The Pegasus, and The Star

**The Lyra, The Pegasus, and The Star**

Ikki was more than a little frustrated as he watched after Sakura and her classmates from a distance. It had been two days since Sakura, Tomoyo, and Kero had been invited into Sanctuary an still, nothing happened. Ares had yet to make another move to hurt or abduct Sakura and it was putting the Phoenix Saint on edge. All they knew for sure was that the gates of his temple was somewhere in either Thebes or Sparta, they weren't sure which. According to documented reports, Ares founded Thebes like Athena founded Athens, however most of the war god's more enthusiastic followers were of Sparti descend. Athena had scouts sent out to both cities yesterday morning and were due back, or at least report in, later on this evening.

The Phoenix sighed and stretched his almost relaxed limbs. Well, at least he manage to get off lucky today when they drew straws; the class went to the beach for their day's activites. Yesterday they went to the amusment park and June managed to pull the lucky red straw out of white blanks for that one. Tomorrow was to the art galleries and Ikki could only think of one or two Saint's who'd want to try for that one. Ikki took a swing of his lemonade before placing it in the cup holder in the arm of his beach recliner. At the moment, since nothing was happening, there was nothing to do but sit back and play the watch dog.

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Sakura laid on her stomach as she spied to Saint called Phoenix Ikki a few yards away over the rim of her sunglasses. She sighed to herself and burried her face in her arms. Kero had informed her that Athena would be having a few Saints following her around until the danger that was her half brother, Ares, could be dealt with. She didn't mind at all, they were dealing with a god who was bent on getting his hands on her and if another goddess was willing to help then it was all the more welcomed.

Next to Sakura was Kero sleeping away contently, a pair of overly large red-rimmed shades perched on his face. The brunette followed her guardian's example and closed her eyes and settled down on her and Tomoyo's beach blanket under the shade of the their umbrella. In a matter of minutes she slipped into peaceful nap. Had she or anyone around Sakura had been paying attention, they would have noticed a curious flash of pink from a certain key inside the girl's beach bag.

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The place Sakura found herself in could easily be discribed as beautiful. All around her as far as the eye could see were fields of pink, white, red, yellow, blue, and purple flowers that grew nearly up to her knees. A light mist hung low on the ground, intensifying the mysteriousness of this place. The sky was a lovely shade of pale blue with only a few fluffy could floating by. Not far away to her right Sakura could see several large temples with massive fountains in open courtyards that gushed with the clearest and bluest water Sakura had ever seen. Sakura could see hundreds of people dressed in flowing white robes reminicent to the ancient garb of old Greece walking about with their neighbors talking, laughing, or simply lounging. To her left she could see the flat ground rising up into large hills and craggy rock formations and could hear calming sounds of a stream as well as the faint crashing of a waterfall somewhere in the distance. She could also just make out a lake a few dozen yards away through all the mist. Tall thin trees with cherries, apples, pears, and oranges grew in different little areas while grape and olive vines hung off tall wooden fences near the temples. Bushes full of berries, vegtables, and flowers such as roses dotted around in large clusters. Birds and bees flew high into honeycomb trees as multi-colored butterflies fluttered about.

"Sugoi!" Sakura breathed.

Yes, this place was beautiful. If Sakura hadn't known this was a dream, she would have thought this place was heaven.

"What are you doing here?" came a lightly spoken voice.

Sakura jumped and turned to find herself staring at a robed couple. The male was tall, had pale creamy skin, and had hair and eyes that matched the color of the sky above. Tucked in his left arm was a handsome silver lyre and on his right arm was his lover. She was extremly pretty with long blond hair and slightly tanned skin. She was just a little taller than Sakura by an inch or two. Sakura couldn't really tell what color her eyes were because they were very narrow, barely open, and her long dark eyelashes covered them.

His robes were different from hers; it had no sleeves, it was shorter, stopping just above the knees and held a ting of blue. He also had a few articles of silver armor on, like shoulder guards, bracers, belt, and greaves. Her robes were made more like a flowy, wide necked, short sleeved dress as it wrapped around her body and pooled slightly around her feet. The entire robe was white as show with only a gold belt giving it any color.

"Hoee! W-who are you?" She was quite surprised by their sudden arrival. Sakura was even more suprised by the fact that they didn't know her. Friends and make believe strangers alike knew her in her dreams.

The bluenette laughed and said, "Not much on manners are we?"

Sakura flushed. She flailed a bit, embarrassed, before bowing."A-ano, my name is Sakura."

"Well, Sakura, I'm called Lyra Orphee, Silver Saint of Athena." he then motioned to the woman next to him, "And this is my lovely wife, Eurydice."

"Hello there." Eurydice's voice was soft, even ligher than her husband's.

Sakura stared at them with ever growing wider eyes. Those names sounded very familiar! Her class came across the names Orpheus and Eurydice when they were studying Geek mythology before the trip to Greece. Her name was the same, but his was slightly different. "Orphee? I thought it was Orphe_us_. Wait, you're a Saint?"

"Yes, I am." Orphee chuckled and nodded. "And I know what you mean about my name, I get it all the time. I'm not _**The**_ Orpheus, but people seem to think I'm his reincarnation." he then looked at Sakura. "But back to my question. What are you doing here?"

"This is my dream. Where else should I go when I'm asleep?"

Orphee and Eurydice blinked at Sakura, then looked at each other, then back at Sakura. "This is no dream, sweetheart." Eurydice informed.

Orphee nodded. "This is the Elysium Fields, the final resting place for the souls of the heroic and virtuous." He leaned foward a little to examine Sakura who was becoming pale and starting to panic. "You aren't dead," Orphee stated as he waved his hand which, to Sakura's shock, passed right through her mid-section. "I wouldn't be able to do that if you were."

Sakura looked at her hands and found that they were transparent. _'What is this?! What happened to me?'_ She then noticed the traditional pink and white Greek robes she wore. It looked somewhat like the one Saori wore when she was in Sanctuary, only shorter. Sakura looked at the young couple who looked more solid than her.

"Maybe, you're projecting your soul?" The blond woman suggested. "Are you here looking for something?"

Sakura shrugged, becoming very distressed. "Hoee, I don't know. I just went to sleep on the beach and found myself here." she said almost too fast for the married couple to understand, but most of their attention was drawn elsewhere behind the younger girl.

"Uh, Miss. Sakura..." the former lost Saint tried to get the brunette's attention but was ignored.

"If I was sent here, I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for! What am I-" Sakura's rushed rambling was cut short by the sound of nayng in her ear. Sakura turned and jumped nearly ten feet in the air as she cried out, "HOOEEEEEEEE!"

Sakura scrambled away when a white, red eyed Pegasus seemingly just appeared out of nowhere.

The young sorceress looked at the muscian and his wife, both were laughing quietly. Even Pegasus seemed to be laughing as he neyed. "Maa, Orphee-san, Eurydice-san, you should have said he was there!" Sakura cried out indignantly.

"I tried, but you wouldn't stop babbling long enough to hear me." Orphee defended, an amused smile still plastered on his face.

Pegasus nayed loudly, gainning everyone's attention before throwing his head towards the nearby lake in a pointing manner. It then trotted off towards it. The three looked at each other before following the winged horse.

When they reached the sandy shore surrounding the lake Pegasus motioned his head toward the water, as is telling them something as he nayed imploringly. The three kneeled and looked at the water, seeing nothing but fish. Pegasus tapped the water once with his nose, sending rippled out. Then something happened. Shapes and colors that weren't there suddenly appeared. Images of the nine planets in the solar system being dragged out of their orbit and eclipsing each other formed for a moment then faded, then Elysium Feilds and familar people appeared. Athena, Shiryu, Hyoga, Shun, Ikki, and a fifth person in silver armor with short brown hair and eyes Sakura couldn't recall meeting took form. No words or sounds could be heard as they battled someone in dark purple and black, multi-winged armor who looked fightningly like Shun only he was sickly pale with longer black hair and dull blue eyes.

Orphee gave a silent gasp, his grip on his lyre tightened, and his hand reaching for Eurydice's. "Hades..."

"Eh?" Sakura looked at Orphee questioningly.

The blue haired man's eyes grew dark as he watched his fellow Saints save their abducted goddess, deliver Athena's own Divine Cloth, and soon have their own cloths ascend to near divine levels. He watched them all fight the battle he hadn't lived to see. The memories of all the wasted time he spent in Hades and the treachery that was unfairly dealt to him by the god's 'sister', Pandora, and Sphinx Pharaoh caused him to feel much strife even now. "The man in the dark cloth, that is the Lord of The Underworld himself, Hades." Orphee looked at Pegasus, he could see what looked like vast anger and contempt in the creature's eyes. "Hades has been antagonizing Athena and the living relm for over two-hundred years. He was the main reason the gods started to war with each other in the first place." The musical Saint explained.

"How horrible." Sakura whispered. The images began to show the end of the fighting with the brown haired boy gaining the upper hand. "Who is this Saint. I've met the other four, but not this one."

Orphee gave a small admiring smile. "That is the Pegasus Saint, Seiya." Sakura looked up at Orphee, then Pegasus, then back to the fellow brunette in the water, interested now. "He did what no mortal should have been able to do; he killed Hades."

"Honto ni!" Sakura exclaimed.

Eurydice nodded. "It was also because of him and Andromeda Shun that Orphee and I are together again." Eurydice stated. "We owe them much."

Pegasus snorted at them and stamped his hoof in a way that told them to pay attention. Though he liked the prais he and his cloth beared were getting, there was still a point to make and he was trying to show it to Sakura. The three looked back into the water just in time to see Seiya deal the God of The Dead a fatal blow. Hades fell, seemingly dead, a look of shock and denial crossing his features. He lay unmoving for a moment and the Saints celebrated. They didn't see him twitch, proving he was still alive, nor did they see his face twisting into a look of rage as he stared at Athena's now turned back. They watched as Hades, with the last of his last strength, have his blood red sword hurl itself at her.

They watched in horror as the sword sailed through the air. They watched the Saints finally take notice and call out warnings to Athena who turned to see the sword ready to strike her down. They watched as time seemed to slow down and Seiya push the goddess out of the way and power up his signature attack. They watched as blood flew everywhere, the sword pierced though the Pegasus Saint's heart.

They saw Hades give a half grin, muttering something to them all, especially to Seiya.

The Pegasus Saint was still standing even with the Sword of Hades burried almost to the hilt in his chest and with all the remaining cosmos he had left, destroy the barely alive god's body. The sword faded from existance along with its master as Seiya fell into a pool of his own blood, Athena running to his side.

Tears flowed like rivers down Sakura's, Eurydice's, and Orphee's eyes as they watch life begin to fade from the young Saint's eyes, Athena and the others desprately burning what cosmos they could spare and then some more to save Seiya's life as he slowly bled to death. The image faded to show the eclipsing planets that fell out of alinement move back into their proper orbit.

"H-he - did he...die, is he dead?" Sakura looked at Pegasus, eyes, shinning with tears.

Eurydice cried into Orphee's shoulder as he held her tight, disbelief clearly writen on his face. "He's not here, right? We would have seen him by now. He simply can't be here, not yet."

The picture warped again, making the three look into the water once more. This time the picture showed a tall white building Sakura recognized as a hospital. It then showed a white room with Seiya occupying its only bed. Tubes and wires connecting to his dormate body; an IV attatched to his arm was dripping clear liquids into his body, a heart monitor silently beeping away, and a small tube that connected a small air pump machine to Seiya's nose.

Sakura gave a relieved sigh, letting out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Orphee and Eurydice doing the same.

Athena and the other had managed to save Seiya. But their relief was short lived as the picture changed once more. The image was now the deepest, darkest shade of black. The only thing that could be made out was a grey stone platform. Seiya was there on his knees with his head lowered. He was bare of any and all clothing with his arms, legs, his entire body bound and wrapped in heavy chains and shackles. Surrounding him were five red columns standing on the points of a purple glowing five point star and circle that was engraved on the ground under him. Ancient Greek text was writen along the star.

Orphee recognized the star as the pendant Hades wore around his neck.

The image then faded again, this time returning to its original state of clear blue. Nothing more came.

The three sat quietly for a moment. Orphee was the first to speak. "It figures... Hades couldn't take losing so he tries to drag Lady Athena with him."

"Seiya sacraficed himself to save her... and Hades cursed him for it."

"I think that Pegasus brought you here, to see this. I think he's asking for your help." The blue haired man looked to the mythical horse who threw his head up and down, nodding.

Sakura frowned. "But how do I help?"

Pegasus nudged Sakura's shoulder, making her face him, and started nosing around her neck. He gave a light tug on the string around Sakura's neck, causing her Star Key to fall out into the open.

Sakura looked at her key then up at the legendary horse. "Are you tryng to say I can break Hades' curse with my Star Key?" Pegasus nodded vigerously. Sakura stood. "I'll try to help anyway I can. I promise."

Sakura got the impression that the white horse was giving her a thankful smile. The wings on Pegasus' back unfolded and flapped twice before he took to the air and flew off. It disappeared in a burst of light.

"Well, good bye, Miss. Sakura." Orphee and Eurydice stood.

"Hoee?" Sakura looked down at herself to see she was slowly starting to fade away.

"Now that your purpose here is served, you're being sent back to the living world." Eurydice informed. "We'll see you again, sooner or later."

"Preferaly later than sooner." the once lost Saint added.

Sakura nodded with a smile. "Sayonara... to arigato." she managed to get out before completely disappearing from the Elysium Fields.

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Sakura woke up to someone shaking her shoulder. "Sakura-chan, me ga sumeru."

The brunette sat up and blinked a few time as she took off her shades and rubbed the remains of sleep from her eyes. "Sore wa nan desu ka, Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked as she looked around.

"Good, you're finally awake." Tomoyo smiled as she rubbed dripping sea water out of her hair with her towel. "I've been trying to get you up for a few minutes now. Rika-chan said some of us are going the rides on the boardwalk, want to come?"

Sakura thought for a minute. "Sure," She then spotted Ikki eyeing them for a moment from his place on the beach before going back to a thick book in his hands. "Ano... why don't you go ahead. I need to take to today's temp bodyguard right quick."

An impatient Kero popped out of Tomoyo's beach bag. "Hayaku, Tomoyo! I want a Funnel Cake!"

"Hai, hai, I'm going." she said to Kero as she stood, picking up her Kero occupied beach bag, before turning back to Sakura. "I'll wait for you at the ticket booth." Tomoyo waved as she walked off to the boardwalk.

Sakura watched her cousin's retreating back as she stood and made her way over to the watchful Saint, who had now noticed her coming his way.

Ikki looked up at Sakura as she stared down at him, apprehensive awkwardness weighed heavily on her features. The silence around the two was broken only by the sound of the surrounding beach goers, the calling Seagulls, and the rolling surf. "... Nani ka atta?" The Phoenix broke the ice.

Sakura gulped. She really didn't know how she was going to say what she needed. She made a promse and she intended to keep it, but she knew she might need help. "A-a-ano, Ikki-san, after my class leaves the beach... d-d-do you think you c-could... you know, t-take me to the hospital?"

Ikki raised an eyebrow at the strange and out of the blue question. "Why, do you feel sick or something?" he asked, sitting up straiter.

Sakura shook her head saying, "No, no, I'm fine, it's just..." Sakura started to fidget. "... A minute ago, I was dreaming- well not really dreaming. I don't know what happened or what to call it, all I know was one moment I'm asleep and the next minute I'm standinginthishugegardenlookingplacewithtemplesandpeopleinrobesallaround-" Sakura went on trying to discribe what happened in her 'dream' in such a hurried voice it was meshing her words together. Ikki listened, trying to bisect her words into something he could understand and follow. "- andnowIhavetoseethisSeiya-sanguyandhelphim because I feel bad for him and becuse I promised Pegasus." Sakua finished her rant and stopped to catch her breath. She looked at Ikki to see him give her a blank stare.

Okay, he heard Saiya's name and two others 'Orphee and Eurydice' in there somewhere, Ikki also managed to hear 'Hades' and 'Elisium Fields', and she had slowed down again when she reached the 'promised Pegasus' part. It took a moment for Ikki's brain to proccess everything she said. Overall he was still confused and a little stunned. She knew about the final fight between Athena and Hades. "... What?" was the only intelligent thing Ikki could say at the moment.

Sakura twittled he thumbs. "... Pegasus, he want's me to break the curse Hades placed on Seiya-san."

Ikki looked at Sakura quietly for a good long moment with calculating eyes. He stood slowly, dropping his forgotten book in his chair. He towered over her as he asked, "Can you do it? Can you really wake Sieya from a curse a wrathful god forced on him?" His voice was serious, but Sakura could detect a hopeful undertone.

"I-I don't know really. I've never tried to break a curse before, but Pegasus thinks I can. I want to help... I want to try."

A smirk came to life on the Phoenix's face. "Alright, when you get back to the hotel I'll take you. Be ready."

Sakura smiled and nodded. _'I just hope I can really help.'_ The bruenette then sped off to find her friends on the boardwalk.

Ikki's own thoughts were right along the same lines.

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**Aloha! It's me, the writer of this fabulous fic! ... ... Well I got nothing to say, except I'm a little disapointed by the lack of reviews I suppose. But it's okay, I'll take what I can get. Review!**

_**Japanese 101**_

**Sugoi: Amazing, wow, ect.**

**Ano: Um, uh, ect.**

**Honto Ni: Really/ truely**

**Sayonara... To Arigato: Goodbye... and thanks**

**Me Ga Sameru: Wake up**

**Sore Wa Nan Desu Ka: What is it**

**Hayaku: Hurry**

**Nani Ka Atta: What's up**


	12. Hypnotic Ways and Deamy Days

**Hypnotic Ways and Deamy Days**

Onassio Cardiac Surgery Center was one of the few places in Athens that specilized in matters of afflictions concerning the heart. It was located near the southern tip of Athens, it also just happen to be the hospital nearest Sanctuary. The medical building was frequented more often then not by critically injured Saints when the doctors in the small village next to Sanctuary couldn't help or didn't have the right tools or enough supplies.

Within one of many rooms inside this place of mercy lay one Pegasus Saint who had taken a direct blow to the heart. The doctors were baffleled by this one patient. His injuries indicated a long, sharp, thin but wide object had pierced and sliced right through is heart. This being said, the boy should have died instantly or at least within the minute the injury occured. The ones who brought him in hadn't elaborated very much on how he got into such a dire condition except to only one or two doctors with close ties to the Graude Foundation and Kido Saori.

When Seiya had been brought in he was barely alive; his heart was still somehow beating, albiet weakly, blood pressure was dangerously low, he had a number of bruised, fractured, and broken bones, he was black and blue all over, and he had several cut and stab wounds. It had taken six doctors, nearly fourteen surgery hours in the ER, a massive blood transfusion, and another fourty-eight hours in the ICU recovery room before it was deemed he would survive.

The news made the day seem brighter and put a little hope and happiness into everyone.

Seiya's prone form had been visited daily since he was rolled into his own privated room. The room itself, which was boringly white, was one of the hospital's largest and was equipted for extended stays with things such as a wardrobe, a tv in the upper left corner of the room, a small wash room with a small stand in shower and toilet, and a small bedside sink. It had been decorated with all manners colorful and fragrent flora, dozens of Get Well cards, teddy bears, and ballons, and a few other knick-knacks and presents.

Most of the Bronze Saints and a few Silvers visited almost every day. None however were more diligent in overseeing Seiya's recovery than Shaina, outstripping even Saori by having the most bedside hours. Though her memories were still a little hazy, Seika was slowly regainning knowledge of her brother the more time she spent around him. Marin, though more withdrawn because of Aiolia's passing, had made it priority to visit at least two or three times a week. Even Miho and the orphans, once news got around to them, managed to fly out from Japan for a week to visit.

Soon the weeks of delicate recovery rolled by, the weeks turned into months, and the months turned into a year. By then Saori and the others were growing impatient and more than a little worried. The doctors had predicted full a recovery and Seiya's awakening within five to six weeks after surgery, but Seiya refused to open his eyes. The doctors had run several long tests and scans. Everything checked out fine, the scans had picked up no afflictions to his head that hadn't already healed that would cause him to stay unconscious. Nothing should have hampered his recovery.

Yet even now, three years later, Pegasus Seiya remained unresponsive in his coma. When the two year mark had come and gone, the doctors had ultimately been ready to pull the plug and remove him from life support. Saori had pleaded to give him more time, his body and everything else was completely healed, he just needed to wake up. The doctors gave in and let the boy be. It had raised many interested eyebrows to see him survive another year of being tied to a bed, this made Seiya the only recorded comatose victim to live in such a state for a full three years.

Be that as it may, the doctors could no longer keep him, even if he could manage to survive another year of unconsciousness. Their was simply too many waiting patients and not enough beds. All they could say was if the boy could not wake within the month, they will have to let him go. It was simply impossible for him to continue on with only a machine keeping him alive.

In hearing this, Saori worked hard to find out why Seiya hadn't woken up. She found what she was looking for. Not long into her search, Saori came across a seal of some kind right over Seiya's heart. It was small and could not be seen on the skin unless cosmos was applied. Athena knew Hades, in his death throws, had placed it there. It vaguely mirrored the pendent Shun used to wear but had the mark of the God of Sleep. She researched and cross referenced the seal for three days and nights in Sanctuary archives and found it to be the Seal of Hypnos or otherwise known as the Seal of Eternal Sleep. The same seal that was said Hypnos placed on a young man by the name Endymion eons ago. Although, this one was a modified version.

"... Athena tried, day after day to break the seal, but couldn't. Even though Hades was the one who placed it on Seiya, Hypnos is the one who empowers it. Unlike Hades, Hypnos wasn't truely killed. Heck, Hypnos didn't even have anything against us when we fought him." Ikki said as he finished telling the sorceress, the Guardian Beast, and the young costume designer about the curse set apon his fellow Saint. He leaned heavily against the wall as he explained it all. He didn't like talking about it, but he supposed it helped lift some of the burden the knowledge carried off his shoulders.

Tomoyo looked down on the prone Pegasus Saint, pity and sadness playing in her indago eyes. She and Kero had been informed by Sakura of her dream of Elysian and she immediately supported her plan to revive Seiya. "It's not fair he has to suffer because he was protecting Athena-sama and everyone else."

"But I don't get it," Sakura said fom her bedside seat. "Athena-sama is a goddess, how come she couldn't break Hades' curse?"

Kero sighed heavily from his perch on the the bed guard rail. "Gods have limits too, Sakura." Seeing his charge's confused look, he explained, "As omniscient as most gods seem, they aren't. Athena is a goddess associated with war, so war is her dominion. Hypnos is the God of Sleep, Athena can't undo a curse placed by him."

"But Hypnos didn't place the seal." Tomoyo reminded.

"But he did create it." Kero shot back. "Think about it, it's just like the Clow Cards, me and Yue before The Final Judgement." He then noticed Ikki giving him a questioning look. "Before Sakura became the Mistress of The Sakura Cards, the cards were once named Clow Cards. Yue and I held power over twenty-six cards each." Kero then looked back at Tomoyo. "Remember what happened when the Kid and Sakura tried to use The Time and The Wood on Yue? It backfired on them because those cards fell under Yue's jurisdiction. You get what I'm saying?"

"So Athena couldn't break Hypnos' seal because she's not affiliated with sleep." The Phoenix stated rather than asked.

Kero nodded. "Now you get the picture. Hades could cast the curse because he has close ties with Thanatos, the God of Death, and Thanatos and Hypnos are twin brothers. Sleep and death go hand in hand." the small cat explained. "Hades had connections to both death and sleep. He may not control death like Thanatos, but he rules over those who are dead."

"Then how do you propose Sakura-san would be able to break the curse?"

The four turned to see Saori, Seika, all the Bronze Saints from the Galaxian Tournament, and the Amazon Saints crowding the room's door. All of them were dressed down in normal, modern day clothes, though Shaina, Marin, and June were still wearing their masks.

"How long have you guys been there?" Ikki asked as everyone filed into the room, Nachi shutting the door firmly behind them. He had called Saori a while back and passed on what Sakura had told him and they opted to meet at the hospital. Originally only a few Saints and Seika were supossed to come, but apparently news got out quickly to some of the other Bronze Saints who knew Seiya. Jabu, Nachi, Ichi, and June, came along, leaving Sanctuary's defense to the remaining Bronze and Silver Saints.

Shun came to stand next his older brother saying, "Since the bit about 'The Final Judgement', ni-san."

Sakura and Tomoyo raised themselves from their seats to allow Saori and Seika to sit, Shaina had dragged a chair in the room from the hallway and planted herself next to Seiya's sister.

Kero fluttered in front of Saori and answered her earlier question, "The best idea we came up with was to have Sakura enter Seiya's mind and break the seal apart from the inside."

Saori blinked. "I never thought of trying that. Can she do it?"

Kero nodded. "It's possible. The Sakura Cards were made to have limitless potential so getting in should be doable."

"Mind control and reading someone's mind is one thing," Jabu started in obvious disapproval. "But actually diving into somebody's mind is another."

June agreed, asking, "Won't doing that kind of thing seriously drain her powers?"

Kero looked at the Unicorn and Cameleon. "Yes, it is strenuous and it will most likely sap a lot of energy. It's also extreamly dangerous, but this is what Sakura wants to do. As her friend and guardian I can only support and protect her." the flying cat then crossed his arms with a slight huff. "Besides, it's not like she'll listen to me if I tell her not to. She'll always risk her neck to save someone in trouble." he mumbled, Sakura nodding in total agreement.

The sorceress looked around at everyone present who stared uncertainly but expectently back. "I'm going to need a little room." That was all she needed to say for the observing Saints to back up and line themselves against the room walls. Saori, Shaina, and Seika didn't need to budge from where they sat as Sakura positioned herself at the foot of Seiya's bed while pulling out a small pink and gold key. Tomoyo whipped out her camcorder while Kero perched on the girl's shoulder.

"Sakura-chan, do your best." Tomoyo cheered.

"Hai..." was her cousin's quiet reply.

"... Kinomoto-san..." Sakura looked towards the only non-Saint besides Tomoyo and Saori, Seika. "Onegai, help my otouto. Bring him back to me. We've missed so much of each other's lives, I want to make up for it." The older girl looked with a pleading, almost desperately hopeful look.

In that moment Sakura's resolve to revive the cursed Pegasus strengthened. There was no way she was going to back out now after what Seika just said. "I'll try my hardest."

"Ki o tsukete, Sakura." Kero warned. "You must keep focused on your own individuality and your reason for being in his mind at all times. One slip up and both your minds could overwhelm and hurt each other. I don't need Yue breathing down my neck any more than he already will after he hears about this."

Sakura gave a quick nod and closed her eyes in consentration before invoking the incantation that would form her wand. "_Key that hides the power of the stars,_" Visable energy that was magic swirled in the air, unnatural wind whirled around the room strongly, and light from the Seal of Sakura burned intensely. It all left those who didn't know enough of Sakura's power in awe. The sorceress continued as her tiny key lifted out of her open palm, glowing, "_Show your true form before me! _" The wild magic wrapped around and clung to the key, the gold star in the center spinning madly. "_I Sakura comand you under our contract! RELEASE!!_" The key then grew into a pink short staff. Sakura pulled in out of its mid-air float, twirling it like a cheerleader would a baton.

Everything died down then, except the sorceress' seal which spun in slow idleness under her feet, but it did lessen most of its brightness. A card from out of Sakura's bag that sat innocently on the nightstand near Saori left it's hiding place and floated just above and in front of Sakura. On the card's picture was a woman dressed in flowing white and navy robes with an elaborate headdress that had a large red jewel on its crown and covered her eyes. Across the bottom, above Sakura's printed name, the card read The Dream.

"DREAM! Take me into Saint Seiya's dreams!" Sakura called out and tapped the card. The effects of the card's power was immediate. For the briefest split second the image on the card appeared in mid-air between Seiya and Sakura before vanishing. Sakura then collapsed due to both sudden magic drainage and Dream's lesser ability to place people into sleep while her powers are in effect. Marin, who was not far away, caught Sakura as her body fell and laid her down next to Seiya's sleeping form as they all spied an unusual blue butterfly made of light settling on the said comatose Saint's head before fading from sight.

"Now we wait," Kero said to the now silent room as he sat at the foot of Seiya's bed. "And hope all ends well."

-

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Sakura didn't like the place she now found herself in. It was dark and nothing more. Sakura could hear no sounds or see any images from Seiya's memories, thoughts, or imagination. Everything all around was one blank void. The only thing she found interesting was that there was no ground to stand on and yet she could 'feel' herself standing on something solid

"Seiya-san!" the sorceress called into the endless darkness. "Seiya-san, if you can hear me, please answer!" Sakura frowned as she clutched her wand when no reply came. _'How can I help him if I don't know which way to go?'_

Her unvoiced question was answered by a second voice, "Follow me, I will lead you to the one you seek." it said, the voice light, definently feminine, and misty. Sakura turned to see The Dream floating there, her hazy white body standing out sharply amongst the deep surrounding darkness.

"Dream,"

The spirit nodded before holding out her hand. "I can take you to this Seiya, Mistress Sakura, but you will have to free him yourself." Sakura took hold of The Dream's hand without a word, fully trusting her card's abilities to lead her to Seiya. The 'ground' under Sakura's feet suddenly left and she felt a vague scense of moving at a rushed speeds, it threw her completely off balance for a moment. The Dream gave a soft laugh as her master flailed about but said nothing as they made their way.

Not too far away and closing in was a wide pentagon shaped platform, The glowing Hades influeced Seal of Eternal Sleep taking up the entire grey slab of stone, each corner of the plateform had a tall red column with thick silver chains connecting them to the still, kneeling figure in the center of it all.

As Dream and Sakura touched down again just a few feet from the dais, a sudden surge of rightous anger swept through Sakura as she observed the pathetic state the Saint before her was forced into. Unbeknownst to Sakura, her body began to pulse a bright pink light. Sakura made a move towards the Saint only to be held back by Dream's hand on her shoulder.

"Please exercise caution before valor." she advised with a wave of her hand. For a second a dark redish-black cosmos covered the dais like a dome barrier, it shimmered, leaking deadly cosmos when a sliver of Dream's power touched it, before becoming invisable again. "A trap to help ensure non who reach here disturbes his confinement."

Sakura frowned deeply, trying to think of a way to get to Seiya without dying first.

Seiya, who had been unaware of his newfound company, twitched only slightly when he felt the pressure of cosmos. Dulled brown eyes that were once so full of life barely opened. Seiya wondered if the vast dark loneliness of his prison had finally made him crack, he could almost swear he felt another presence. Looking up, Seiya's eyes widened some when he saw a blurry splash of pink cosmos.

Hope. It was something he hadn't quite given up on since he woken up in this endlessly dark realm, bound and shackled with only the knowledge of this being Hades' doing and memories of his waiting friends keeping him sane. He didn't even know how long he'd been locked up here. This cosmos, now that he could see it just two yards in front of him, was reviving his slowly dying hope. He only know of one person with that much cosmos in that color.

"... Sh-Shun?..." Seiya rasped. ".. Tasukete... kudasai... these chains they- argh!" He hadn't meant to do it, but his small but sudden movements caused the chains to react. A bolt of electricity surged down the chains from the surrounding columns. Seiya gritted his teeth, determined not to scream after the inital shock. When the volts ceased, the battered brunette breathed long-suffered gasps and and violent coughing fits.

Sakura watched all this in horror. The light around her grew brighter with her strengthening desire to free the poor boy. He shouldn't suffer like this, there was no reason for him too. She'd seen and heard of him doing great, heroic things.

He deserved better.

He deserved his freedom.

Sakura brought her staff up to bear. She had to override this seal and free him from this unjust pain. Sakura knew she had no cards that could break seals like this one in front of her and even if she did Sakura doubted they would work, aside from The Dream, inside someone else's mindscape. Whether Sakura noticed it or not, the gold star of her staff began to change, growing five extra points, as the wings on either side grew larger. Her personal seal sprang to life under her. Sakura didn't know at she was doing nor was she trying to think about it. Her only desire at the moment was to help Seiya and everything was being driven by instinct.

"_I call apon the power of my star,_" she began. "_Purest magic of ten points burn bright!_"

Seiya looked up, not recognizing who was speaking. _'Who is that?'_

The light around Sakura was growing and stars both known and unknon to man began to flicker to life all around, but non was more brighter than the ten-point star hovering just above Sakura's head. "_Ancient sanctum of the holy life, pierce the darkness of the night! I, Sakura, comand you... RELEASE THE LIGHT!_"

A magic circle of gargantuan size suddenly appeared, replacing her Seal of Sakura. It had more rays that curved elegantly than strait ones. It had strange symbols that looked more ancient than any known writen language along two inner and one outer circles. It also had a six-point star where Yue's moon would have been and an eight-point star where Keroberos' sun would have been. The sun and moon were now sitting between the two inner circles along with the symbols of the nine planets, and Sakura's usual ten-point star taking up most of the center. Like the seals of Sakura and Clow, the only thing that remained the same was the four symbols for the North, South, East, and West and well as the twelve symbols for the Greek Zodiac.

The circle was large enough that it could lay over the entire dais. Bright colors flashed everywhere, the cosmos barrier around Seiya's form appeared again. The energies the seal was giving off whirled and struck out and lashed at the barrier like whips with ever growing strength until the sound of cracking echoed.

Seiya stared in wide eyed fascination, the cosmos around his would-be savior was too bright to see their face. He could feel his heart beat faster in anticipation. He could see the cracks grow longer and wider under the attack with each passing moment until finally the barrier came apart and shattered like glass. The pink cosoms then went after the five columns and chains with a snap; the erratic pink energy wrapped around them and began to squeeze. Sounds of twisting metal and snapping rock mingled with swirling wind and energy. Seiya hadn't moved an inch as he watched his confining shackles break and desolve away. The Pegasus Saint had to shut his eyes when the cosmos exploded, destoying only the offending prison and wipping it clean away from Seiya's mindscape.

Seiya's world descended into silence once more as the pink cosmos receded. The boy jumped when he felt a hand lightly land on his shoulder. The Saint looked up and brown met green.

Sakura smiled down on Seiya, and said, "Kon-nichi wa, Seiya-san, watashi wa Kinomoto Sakura. Daijoubu desu ka?"

Seiya nodded. "H-hai..."

The girl then held out her hand to the Saint. "C'mon, your friends are waiting for you. Your nee-san too."

The Pegasus' heart skipped a beat for a moment at the mention of Seika. Seiya gave a shaky laugh as he grabbed hold of Sakura's smaller hand firmly, eagerly. His world suddenly became blindingly brighter.

-

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-

Tomoyo, Kero, Saori, Seika, and the Saints waited anxiously for whatever might happen next. Not long into the wait, which was a scant few minutes from a full thirty minutes, all sorts of crazy things happened.

First Sakura's body began to glow and steadily grew brighter until the whole room was painted in the warmth of pink light. Then a pair of strange seals appeared; one on Seiya's body and the second under both the sleeping teen's forms. Next, an intense, almost violent wind threw pretty much everything that wasn't bolted or weighed down everywhere. After that the sound of a loud breaking echoed, both the previously mentioned seals vanashed, and the light Sakura's body was giving off died away. Finally, The Dream card reappeared and floated off back into Sakura's hand bag with the rest of her cards.

"It's done." Kero said as he hovered above the Pegasus Saint and the Card Mistress. "They should wake up any minute now."

At Kero's words, the group crowded around the bed, waiting with baited breath.

Sakura was the first to open her eyes. She sat up rubbing them and yawned. "I'm so beat." she slurred and yawned again. The sorceress then turned to Seiya and gently shook his shoulder. "Time to wake up, Sleepyhead-san."

Seiya twitched and mumbled before his eyes fluttered open. He sat up slowly, sharp, deep pops and cracks sounding with his body's renewed movement after three long years of disuse. He yawned and stretched his stiff body into loosening up. Seiya gave the room a blurry eyed once over, finding familiar and not so familiar happy, teary eyed faces. He gave a slow, tired smile and spoke for the first time in years.

"... Tadaima, minna..."

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**And here is where chapter 12 ends. What'd ya think? Is it okay? Yes? No? Maybe so? I'll tell you guys this much, I'm tired. I've been up typing this for a while and I'm about to crash at my desktop. It's a little after one in the morning and I shouldn't be up, but I'm doing this for you guys. Anyway, Seiya's back! Yay! And more squishy goodness os on the way. Some of you have asked about Shouran and the others, don't worry, their going to be in my fic so look me up when I update again. TTFN, ta ta for now!**

_**Japanese 101**_

**Ni-san: Brother**

**Onegai: Favor; request**

**Otouto: Little brother**

**Ki O Tsukete: Be careful**

**Tasukete: Help/save me**

**Kudasai: Please**

**Watashi Wa: I'm ( called )**

**Nee-san: Sister**

**Tadaima, Minna: I'm home, everyone/body**


	13. The Calm Before The Coming Storm

_**The Calm Before The Coming Storm**_

"SEIYA!!"

The said Saint found himself being bowled over back onto the bed by several of his friends and fellow Saints as they all but jumped on his bed trying to hug the life out of him. Sakura was nearly knocked out of the bed in their excitement, luckily Tomoyo was their to catch her before she fell.

"O-oi, I can't breathe!" Seiya rasped, his voice hoares and muffled. "...You're all squishing me!"

The other Saints removed themselves from their unintentional dog pile. Seiya breathed a sigh of relief before sitting up again and rubbed his sore throat. "So, what does a guy gotta do to get some water around here?" he half laughed, half winced.

Almost immediately a small papercup of water was held in front of him. Seiya looked up to see a familiar masked face of Ophiuchus Shaina. "Drink it slow, and try not to choke." she said as clearly as possible without sounding too emotional. She was proud of herself for resisting the urge to grab him and smother him to death with hugs for this long.

With a grin, Seiya took the cup. "Arigato, Shaina." He did as told and drank slowly. When he finished the cup he looked at the happy faces of his friends and brothers/sisters-in-arms. He then froze when he spotted the one person he had longed to see for years since he was little. "... N-nee-chan."

Seika smiled, tears of joy running down her face. "Seiya-chan," She then reached out and pulled her younger brother into a hug, one which Seiya returned almost desperately. "I looked everywhere for you..."

Seiya nodded into her soulder. "Me too."

The surrounding Saori and Saints watched on silently, not wanting to break the happy moment of reuniting siblings. Non of them noticed the soft click of the door open and close as Sakura, Tomoyo, and Kero slipped quietly out of the room.

Tomoyo switched off her recorder the moment the door closed. She gave a happy sigh. "The was simply beautiful." she commented.

Sakura nodded tiredly, she too was smiling. "Yeah, I'm happy for them." she sat in a hallway chair heavily.

Kero patted Sakura's brown mane. "Ya did good, Sakura. I'm proud."

"I must agree, I'm very impressed you were able to pull off a mind dive." came a semi deep yet almost childishly mischevious young voice.

Three heads snapped up to see a familiar cheshire smile of Hiragizawa Eriol.

"Eriol-kun!" came a chorus from the two cousins.

"Kon-nichi wa." The boy who's hair and eyes so perfectly mimicked Tomoyo's gave a aknowledging nod. "Sakura, Tomoyo-hime, and Kero-chan, it's been too long." He walked towards the two.

The girls met him halfway. "We haven't heard from you in months, Hiragizawa-kun." Tomoyo smiled as Sakura was bouncing with a burst of newfound energy.

"Ah, forgive me, the life of an all powerfull, all knowing sorcerer and a hard working high school student with a job is a daunting task. It ties up much of my time." he explained with a somewhat playful but partly apologetic smile.

"Hoee, you work, Eriol-kun?"

"Part time student/teacher aid at Mizuki's college classes." the dark haired boy explained. "Oh, and when I arrived at the airport this morning I happened to run into a snow rabbit and a certain cute little descendent of mi-" Eriol was cut off by an annoyed yell not far behind him.

"Oi! Stop calling me that, hena hito!"

The two girls and one guardian beast leaned to look over Eriol's shoulder. There, not too far behind and gainning closer was one very irratated Li Syaoran, an indefferent black sun guadian cat, Spinel, and the mortal forms of two amused moon guardians, Tsukishiro Yukito and Akizuki Nakuru.

"Syaoran-kun!" Sakura ran toward him and made a rather impressive flying leap.

Syaoran wasn't all that surprised to see Sakura become airborn at the sight of him, he half expected it really. He himself was smiling when she landed and snuggled in his waiting arms. He found her presence relaxing after so long and shouldering so many responsibilities like being the clan head, president of his family business, and training in the magical and martal arts. He gave her a firm but gentle hug, something she returned with fervor, before pulling away, holding her at half an arm's length. "Ogenki dess ka, Sakura?"

"I'm fine, a little tired, but fine." she answered before she was plucked out of Syaoran's arms and pulled into a tighter hug.

"Oh, Sakura-chan!" Nakuru squealed. "You've gotten so much bigger! We're almost the same height now, but you're still so kawaii!" she pulled away to look at the girl a sunshine yellow sleeveless blouse and white skirt.

Yukito came up around an over eager Nakuru and eased her out of the gushing guardian's bone chushing grip, gaining an appreciative smile. "It's good to see you're okay, Sakura-chan, you too Tomoyo-chan."

Off to the side, Spinel settled himself down on a hallway chair, vaguely listening to Kero who was talking animatedly and shooting video game challenges, or any other challenges, left and right at his rival.

Eriol waited patiently as everyone excahanged pleasentries. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, the lenses catching the light and obscurring his eyes, before he spoke, "You know, I was a bit surprised when I recieved a phone call last night from Kido Saori of the Graude Foundation and was told you were in trouble. May I ask what's going on?"

The happy air around the group suddenly seemed to evaporate as they sobered up. Syaoran and the guardians seemed to finally realize just why they were all standing there in the hospital, in a different country. Before anyone could answer, a gruff voice recognized only by Sakura, Tomoyo, and Kero interupted.

"I was wondering what all the racket was out here." Everyone looked up to see the intimidating form of Phoenix Ikki, who was leaning casually against the door frame with crossed arms gazing at each newcomers with a thoughtful stare. He then looked at the three he did know out of the eight. "It was kinda rude to sneak out like that. Saori wants to see you guys."

"Hoee, gomen, gomen! We wanted to give you guys a moment alone."

The Phoenix shrugged before looking towards the new people. "You're Sakura's friends, ne? Names Ikki, if you care to know." he said as he turned back into the room, not really caring if he was being rude or not. "C'mon, Saori's been wanting to meet you guys for a while now."

Eriol gave a pleasent smile. "Ah, yes, I would also like a word with her myself." he said, leading the way after the Saint. Everyone followed in after him.

Saori looked up when Ikki came back in with the missing sorceress, guardian, and cousin, however, she didn't expect to see four extra people walking in with a another flying cat, this one was black with blue eyes and tiny matching butterfly wings. She looked to Ikki questioningly who simply mouthed 'Sakura's friends'. With a slight nod she looked to the nearest who oddly looked like he could pass for Tomoyo's male twin brother, he carried the same sarene smile as the girl, to find him staring at her intently.

"Hello, I am Hiragizawa Eriol, Kido Saori-san." he greeted with a sweeping bow. "Or, should I call you Lady Athena?"

Saori was surprised by him addressing her by her goddess name. She hadn't told him who she was in her phone call so it left her wondering how he knew who she really was.

Eriol seemed to smile in a knowing fasion. "And these are my companions; my guardians, Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon-"

"Call me Nakuru-chan for now!" the beaded haired guardian interjectected.

"Tsukishiro Yukito, Sakura's moon guardian," Eriol continued as if he was uninterrupted, the older glasses wearing man gave a respectful bow. "And finally, Li Syaoran." Li bowed deeply to Saori.

The mortal goddess stood, smoothing out any wrinkles in her sundress and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you all." the goddess then motioned the surrounding people who were crowding the room. "These are my Saints..." Saori did a roll call, introducing each Saint by title and name before ending with Seika.

"Yes, a pleasure to meet you all." he told the Saints before looking to their leader. "Lady Athena, I wish to know why we who have nothing to do with you, your Saints, or the other gods, were summoned here today?" He asked, his glasses flashing and his voice dropping a few pitches too deep for a seventeen year old to posses.

Slightly thrown by the sudden elder sounding voice Eriol now had but not showing it, Saori answered, "I was told by Keroberos that you were associates of Sakura and could offer help in protecting her."

"Oh?"

Saori nodded.

Seiya, who was sitting between the goddess and the sorcerer, was left confused at what was going on. Had something happened while he was asleep? Why would the person who woke him up need protection? She completely smashed through a seal of a god for goodness sake! "What's going on here!" he asked loudly, a second more harsher voice echoing him sharply in the same moment.

Syaoran glared at everyone who was a Saint in general, his instincts to protect Sakura kicking in violently at the mention of something or someone acting hostile towards her.

Saori sat once more and began to explain the recent on goings, the fight between Sakura and her possesed friends, and it all being being Ares doing and where his temple may be. By the time she finished she noted the various mixed reactions of those who didn't know. Syaoran was seething, staring darkly at nothing in particular but looking ready to break something while Yukito looked worried as he spent the next few minutes rubbing at his temples, as if trying to stave off a headache, with a glazed far off look in his eyes. Nakuru had a mixed look of exasperation and interest. Eriol had a thin lipped frown pulling down on the corners of his mouth as he stared thoughtfully a the ground with narrowed eyes. Spinel, unlike the others, looked unphased and radiated cool aloofness, though he was brooding and throwing expectent looks at Eriol. Seiya was starting to fidget, a clear sign that he'd jump to fight Ares at any given moment. In fact he seemed to be inching closer to his bed's edge even now.

It was after a moment of long deliberation did Eriol looked up at the goddess, an odd, if not almost ominous smile stretching across his face. "I do believe we have much to prepare for. We must be be quick about it. I have a feeling things are going to become most hectic over the next few days."

Athena nodded, she could hear a secret in his voice, as if he knew something he wasn't going to share... yet. It unsettled her a little and she could tell her Saints were having the same reactions to Eriol's statement. But Tomoyo and the other magic users seemed used to his egnigmic ways. Saori knew she had to push her feelings aside, if she was going to work with him then she'd have to get used to him.

"Yes, we do have much to prepare for."

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**Here ye, here ye, I dub chapter thirteen finished! I'm having an off day today so I don't have much to say. For those who've been wondering where Syaoran was, there he is, all grow up and ready to kick butt! Next chapter will be up sooner or later, likely later because tomorrow my computer will be boxed and shipped off to the land of cowboys and rodeos with the rest of my junk. Can anyone guess where my new adress will be? A cookie to everyone who gets it right on first try. Look out for me later! Be seeing ya!**

_**Japanese 101**_

**Oi: Hey**

**( O )Nee-san/chan: ( Older ) sister**

**Hena Hito: Weirdo**

**Ogenki Dess Ka: How are you**


	14. Golden Memories and Cosmic Revelations

**Golden Memories and Cosmic Revelations**

Darknes. Silence. Their constant presence was something that he had grow familiar with over the past few years... and yet he did not welcome it like he used to.

Not too long ago the darkness came in the form of night. Even then, there were still light coming from somewhere; the moon and the stars for example. It meant to give comfort, that darkness signaled it was time to rest his body and mind for a few hours before rising with the sun of a new day. Also, back then, silence was never truely silent. Life could still be heard no matter where one went; the chirpping of crikets, the squeaks of field mice, the whoots of owls, even the wind never ceased whistling over the land and sea. Demeter never allowed complete and utter silence to reign over any part of the world for more than a few moments.

But the place he'd spent the last few years in was slowly ebbing away at his very sanity. Unlike his comrades, when they were all thrown into this place he did not fall into eternal sleep, he could not find the sliver of comfort in his mind like them. They didn't have the same level of finely tuned spiritual awareness he possesed. They had seven senses, he had Araya Shiki, The Eighth Sense.

Three years of time did nothing to dull his acute senses.

This meant Shaka was very aware when someone interupted his and the other Gold Saint's eternal punishment for defying Hades and raising their fists at said god, even if he deserved it and more.

He felt when the stone statue made from his and the others bodies shifted and shrank before splitting into fourteen different bodies of flesh and blood. Skaka felt a vast amount of cosmos not unlike Lady Athena's in strength yet grossly opposite in nature breathe new life to their perfectly regenerated bodies. He felt an extrem weight bare down on his shoulders as it tried to force his soul back into his body with almost freightening ease. Shaka knew something wasn't right when he was being revived. The dead shouldn't walk among the living, it only brought unnecessery problems and tipped the delicate balance of nature. He ached fercely when he resisted but still remained detatched from his body. But the oppressive cosmos would not allow Shaka to defy it; it lashed out at him harshly, distracting Shaka for only a split second. But that split second was just enough time for the foreign cosmos to forcefully incapacitate him long enough to complete his revival.

Shaka frowned deeply when he woke once more. Memories of what he experienced during his reserection were not particularly fond ones. From what Shaka could tell it happened about a month or so ago, but still left the Virgo reeling even now. Thinking about it only served to worsen the skull splitting headache he already had.

The blond looked up at the remaining few of his brothers-in-arms who were all still asleep and sighed.

The cell he spent most of his time in now a days could easily be called a dungeon. It was styled after an old Greek prison with a little bit of English flare. There were no windows to provide natural light, only a few tourches here and there on the walls. The dungeon was split in half; one side barred off for holding prisoners and the other side housing the only doorway in and out as well as all manners of European torture devices from thoughout the ages, including an Iron Maiden. Kanon remarked once that non of it would look out of place in Death Mask's temple which earned him a grudging nod of agreement from the crab Saint.

Their cell was wide enough to hold groups of at least twenty or so prisoners with little to no comfort. The high ceiling had long chains, shackles, and the occassional human bird cage dangling off it as well as short ones bolted to the three walls. The place had layers of dust, dirt, and mold caking everything within five feet of the ground, spiders and other crawling insects made their little nests up near the ceiling or in little nooks and crannies of the walls. The strong stench of blood, death, and other unmentionables made each of them gag and force down bile that tried to come up when they first woke in this place.

Shaka gave a low uncharacteristic growl of annoyance as his body hung limply by his wrists. The long haired Buddist gave a weak open eyed glare up at the source of his irratation that shinned mockingly back.

The chains that held him and the other golds captive weren't normal by any means. They were abnormally strong to be able to hold them for so long. During the first few days of their imprisonment, the thirteen Saints and one Pope tried anything they could think of to break them and nothing worked! They tried everything from brute force to Shura's Exclibur to cut them away to melting the chain links by burning their cosmos... and it all came back to bite them each time. Brute for gainned them intense electric shocks, the Excalbur, to everyone's utter shock and misery, couldn't cut through it because of the thin sheet of red cosmos that was protecting the chains, and again the red cosmos kept the chains safe from the searing heat of the Saint's hot cosmos.

The blond looked down at the ground longingly. It was a good fifteen feet below him and he wanted to feel something solid under him without being carted off after first being knocked unconscious.

It distrurbed and puzzled Shaka greatly as to why he and his brother Saints were brought back to life.

Each day a hand full of guards would come in, lower one of them until they were just a few feet off the ground, knock them out, and then drag them off. They'd be gone for hours unknown until they guards brought them back; each time it happened the Saint of the day would come back looking more and more weaker until they didn't come back at all. Sometimes, if it was quiet enough, the remaining Saints could hear faint echos of their comrade's pains throughout the dungeons. It felt like a stab to the heart each time they heard it, knowing they were unable to help, especially for those who were closer than 'just friends'.

Out of the fourteen serevants of Athena, only three of them were left; himself, Dohko, and Aiolos.

Shaka knew they were running out of time. He knew they were running low on energy to fight and that the three of them wouldn't last much longer. Among the first had been Shion. Rather than a few hours away like the Gold Saints, he'd been taken away twice and gone for nearly a week each time.

He didn't return after the second time.

Shaka knew his comrades weren't dead, he could sense the presence of their cosmos' nearby, no matter how vegue they were.

He himself knew what was happening since they dragged him off three times already. The second time they took him away that was when he found out what was going on, who was doing all this, and, to some extent, what they were after.

When the guards came in and he was the chosen Saint of the day, Shaka was ready.

They injected him with a tranquilizer, as per usual, and waited. Shaka used a little of the cosmos he had left to postpone the effects of the drug and went slack. He felt them take him down and carry him away, the protesting cries, curses, and threats of his fellow Saints ringing out of the dungeon and into the hallways.

Shaka didn't need his eyes to see where he was being taken. The Virgo stretched unnoticibly thin threads of cosmos everywhere. Through his cosmos threads he managed to memorise and map out the entire lay of the basement and up into the higher floors. Nothing escaped his sences; not a rug, statue, portrait, or person went unseen by him. All of it was an important landmark, he'd need to know it all when he and the others tried to escape.

Shaka stopped his explorations short when his threads neared a cosmos far too massive for any mere human to generate. It was red and the emotions he could feel from it were anything but benevolent, yet it marginly reminded the blond Saint of Athena. It held vast amounts of barely checked rage, hatred, malice, and bloodlust in it. Shaka could tell the... person... he was sensing craved violence and battle to a degree that made all other warmonggers pale in comparison. There was only one being that Shaka knew who had a cosmos that was so similar to yet a complete polar opposite to Athena's cosmos.

The second God of War himself, Ares.

With that deduced, the blond had listened intently to the conversation the guards where having. They confermed Shaka's ever growing suspiscions as they complained to each other about 'haveing to drag one of Athena's worthless lapdogs through the corridors'. Shaka mentally sneered at them, his face never betraying him. He made a mental note to beat them into Hades should they meet again. When one snapped at the whinners and then spoke about Ares needing the Gold Saints and something called the 'The Soul Crystals of The Zodiac', it made Shaka pause.

The Buddist was confused now. He and the others had no possessions on their persons when they came back to life, clothes included. Thank Budda they did at least had the decency to give them pants and tunics to wear, even if they were worn out and coming apart at the seams. Also, he was sure the twelve Gold Cloths had returned to the safety of their temples behind Sanctuary's walls after their 'Heroic Golden Sacrafice', as Milo had dramatically put it.

In his musing, Shaka almost missed one of them mutter something about 'The Pope's Way Stone' as well the word 'sorceress'. The blond thought long and hard about his findings. He never heard of this 'Way Stone' before and appearently he, the other Gold Saints, and the Pope had it and these crystals that Ares wanted, that much he figured, but when it came to this mentioned sorceress, he wasn't sure what to make of it.

When they reached their destination, Shaka allowed his eyes to crack the thinnest sliver open. This he wanted to see what was going to happen next with his own eyes because he could feel the drugs in his system slowly winning over his cosmos. He didn't have enough time and needed to find out as much as he could.

The room he was now in was a Cella of some kind with large stone statue of Ares watching over the room. The Cella was, however, fitted for ceremonial usage. There were free standing tourch basins along the rune etched walls, a long dark violet with gold fring rug stretched across the floor from the door to a large alter made of stone and gold in the center of the room. In the center of the alter was a large circular seal. There where runes carved into the sides of the alter in old Greek. But the alter itself only held half of Shaka's attenion. Standing atop it was a man with dark hair and cruel yellow in a dark red ceremonial robes and gold. In one hand he held a thick leather bound book and in the other hand he had a silver staff.

Shaka could already feel himself slipping away into darkness when he was laid out flat and then chained down to the center of the alter. His mind was a sluggish, jumbled mess by the time he realized he could hear chanting, what they were saying was lost on Shaka. He'd been almost asleep when he suddenly felt the sharpest, most agonizing pain in his life.

In all Shaka's existence the only time he'd ever cried or screamed in terror or pain was when he was a child. Since the day he begun his trainning for Sainthood nobody had ever managed to force a single tear from his eyes or even rip the smallest whimper from his throat. His trainning and meditation made it easy for him to ignor and eventually dismiss pains delt to his body since it focused more on his mind and soul. What he felt in that moment, however, he would remember for the rest of his life.

His once heavy eyes snapped open and he back arched off the alter as he fought to break his chains. It felt as if someone was pouring liquid fire in his vains, his muscles spasmed randomly, his nervous systems felt like they were overloading from the electric currents shooting up and down his body. It felt like he was being burned alive and electricuted at the same time. The pain was emence and didn't seem to end. Somewhere in the back of his pain ridden mind and body he could sense something deep inside being slowly, painfully ripped out. He somehow managed to take note that his cosmos was slowly drifting away and a small incomplete crystal was hovering over his chest.

The few hours he'd been away from the others seemed like years to him. Shaka had long since screamed himself hoarse and the unbearable pain had made him too numb to feel it. In those moments the blond was grateful he lost his senses. For a time his mind had become a blank slate; no thoughts, no memories, nothing registered to him.

When he'd gone still on the alter did it stop. Appearently his captors knew any more would of what they were doing to him would kill him, something that had never before seemed so appealing to Shaka. They didn't seem to want him dead again just yet. The Virgo blacked out long before they took him back to the others.

When Shaka had come to a day later, much to everyone's relief, he had informed them to the best of his abilities at the time of what was going on. It left most of them as baffled as he was. The only one who didn't share in the confusion was Dohko, he looked very worried, but far from confused.

It was Mu who brought attention to the Libra by saying, "You seem to be taking this well, Roshi."

The teenaged old man shook his head almost ruefully. "Not really. It's just... these Soul Crystals and this Way Stone remind me of a legend my own master, the former Libra Rei Fong, showed me of back when I was a young trainee." If he could, the Chinese man would have rubbed his temples trying to remember. "Master Rei once took me up to the archives saying he wanted to show me something. In the archives you must've seen the small section of large tomes and scrolls that tell of all the legends that ever made reference to Sanctuary and Athena?"

Several heads nodded.

"It's in the very back of the archives," Saga informed. "But those legends have never been proven to hold any facts in them."

The older brunette shook his head. "I know, but now I'm not so sure of that. Tell me, out of all those books have any of you noticed a particularly large faded tome with a gold spine and edges with a ten point star and the symbols of the zodiac sitting all by itself.

"I don't remember much, but in that book he said that there was a story about when Lady Athena had the Saint Cloths forged each of the eighty-eight constellations willingly gave up a small amount of their powers to aid her. It also said, however, that the twelve members of the zodiac gave something more during their cloth's creation."

Dohko's story instantly grabbed everyone's attention. "Come on old man," Death Mask urged. "Out with it!"

Aiolia snapped, "Shut up, you homicidal phyco crab!"

"Screw you, you no talent, baby kitten!"

"Be silent, both of you!" Aiolos roared. "Show some respect to your elder Saint when he's trying to tell you something important!"

The Libra gave a annoyed glare towards the muttering lion and crab but continued anyway, "I'm not exactly sure about it, but when the Gold Cloths were created Master Rei said that each zodiac member placed a small crystal that represented a piece of their souls into the cloths and ultimately into the Saints."

"Stop and rewind! Are you saying I've got a peice of the _soul _of Scorpio _inside _of me!? That's the coolest thing in the freakiest way ever!" Milo exclaimed which earned him a swinging bump in the side from the nearby Aquarius.

"Be quiet Milo, Dohko might have more to say." The ice master scolded as he turned to the brunette, ignoring his pouting best friend, and said respectfully, "Do you know about this 'Way Stone' Shaka mentioned?"

Dohko did his best to shrug. "Not really. All I know is that it's some kind of key... and that the Pope is suppose to be the one who carries it." he said, the last part coming out no louder than a whisper. It had been four days since he last saw Shion alive and he was going to pieces with worry.

"Do you know how the legend went?" Saga asked tantatively.

Shaking his head, the old Libra said, "Unfortunately, no. Some of the pages with the legend on it were lost a little over two hundred years ago when I fought in the Holy Wars for the first time. Much of Sanctuary was reduced to ruins. The archives took a hit and almost half of it was destroyed. It took me and Shion thirty seven years to rewrite all the important stuff that got damaged." Dohko said that last sentence bitterly, flexing his fingers as he remembered how badly they cramped after weeks of uninterupted writing.

"What about the sorceress?" Shaka asked, forcing the Chinese man out of his solemn thoughts. When he got a questioning look in return, the blond elaborated, "One of the guards was muttering about a sorceress Ares needed."

"Are you sure that's what he said?" Aldebaran asked skeptically and Shaka nodded.

"Well Dohko?" Aphrodite asked. "Anything in the legend about a sorceress?"

"I... I don't know." Dohko shook his head. "But there was something about a seal some kind. I belive it was a magic circle."

This time Shura asked, "What's this about magic circles?"

Dohko hummed in thought. "Master Rei said in the legend, there was a verse in the legend that said '_a young mortal wielding a seal in the form of a circle of light shall descend apon to world and release the holy star should those who bear the souls of the zodiac can no longer protect- ..._'"

Everyone became silent after that until, "... Well, I guess us dying certainly counted as can no longer protect'." Death Mask said .

Aiolia rolled his eyes. "Humph, yeah, but you wouldn't know about protecting, considering you didn't do much of it." he added sarcastically.

"That's it! You want a peice of me, kitty-cat?!"

"Bring it on bottom feeder!"

The two started to kick at each other, even if they were too far apart to actually land anything, and threw scathing insults back and forth between each other. The other eleven Saints gave a collective sigh and decidedly ignored the forever fighting lion and crab warriors.

"Hey, hey, Dohko" Kanon yelled over the two clashing Saints drawing the Libra's attenion. "What did it mean when the verse said 'release the holy star'? What star was it talking about?"

"I don't know." Dohko shook his head. "There are an innumeral amount stars in the universe that can be seen from Earth and there are many stars considered holy in several different religions. It could be any one of them."

"There's still something I don't get." Aphrodite frowned. "Why do we still have the crystals in us? We _died_, didn't we? So we shouldn't have them anymore, right?"

Aldebaran nodded in agreement. "It's been over three years. Surely there are new Gold Saints by now. The Soul Crystals should have been passed on."

Aiolos was the one to offer his words this time. "I doubt that. Sagittarius hasn't found anyone new to wear it yet."

"And you know that how?" Shura asked.

The archer couldn't help but to roll his eyes at his best friend. "Even in death I could still sense my cloth and had some control over it." he nodded to himself. "Think about it. Remember all those times Sagittarius shot off to help Seiya? It was because I wanted to help him and I wanted him to wear it."

"Now that you mention it, brother," Aiolia's eyebrows furrowed after finally ceasing his bickering with Death Mask. "When I died I still felt Leo. I can still feel it now, but not as stongly."

The twins looked at each other in question and nodded. "We feel Gemini too." Kanon admitted.

"But our link to it is also weakened." Saga added.

Milo frowned. "Yeah, mine too. It must be because Ares is trying to leech our Soul Crystals out of us."

"Dohko, about the legend, the way you said that verse in the legend earlier, it sounded as if there was more to be said." Camus mused.

Dohko nodded. "That's right, there was more, but like I said, some of the pages were lost and whatever came next was on one of those pages."

"We need to get out of here." Mu stated as he looked disdainfully up at his chains. "Athena must know of our findings and prepare the Saints. We have to tell her Sanctuary is being threatened again."

The group of Saints had debated and planned ways for their escape for well over an hour from there. Aiolos came up with the idea of sending out a message to Athena through tellepathy. Mu spent hours trying to connect with Athena's mind on various levels, but Ares seemed to have been perpared for that as each time the Aries Saint tried, the ram would recieve sharp mental stab from the god, like a nail driving itself into his head. It had gone on like this until guards came in to collect one of them.

The weekly rituals they were forced to attent was extremly drainning on their cosmos. For Shaka it had gotten to the point where he could safely keep his eyes open without accidentally hurting someone or strainning to hold his powers back. Of course that didn't mean his open eyes still didn't put anyone on edge. The only thing that was keeping the gold's moral up were the little conversations and pep talks they had. But even that was slowly dwindling.

Shaka had noticed that recently that Ares had been speeding up in whatever he was doing since yesterday both Saga and Kanon had been with him, Dohko, and Aiolos. The formost latter of the three went completely mute with grief after Aiolia never came back almost a week prior. Whatever the war god was planning he obviously had a deadline to meet and that meant time was running out for them.

The Virgo shook his head and tried his best to fall back to sleep, his mind and soul unconsciously reaching out for something, for someone to hear his warnings. Hoping for that slim chance Athena would respond.

Unknown to Shaka, the Soul Crystal of Virgo was also reaching out, just not to Athena.

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**Hey everyone! I'm back again! FINALLY!!! I now close the book on chapter fourteen. We're coming to the midpoint of the story and what's this?! The Golds are ALIVE! Tehehehe! But be that as it may they're not in any shape to do much in the story... yet. We also get and more in-depth-look at what's going on with Ares, but it's still not enough to know what he's doing. I love this kind of stuff. Knowing something big is gonna happen but never knowing what it is until the end. If ya wanna find out what's going to happen, stick with me into the next chapter. Later!**


	15. Cosmic Connections

**Cosmic Connections**

Sakura blinked when she found herself standing in the doorway of a large and familiar temple of Virgo. She was dreaming again. Sakura knew it; she remembered going strait to sleep after dinner. The mind dive into Seiya yesterday afternoon had left her weak the entier day today afterwards. Sakura sighed when she happened to look down and saw herself; once again she was in the robes she wore in the Elysium Fields.

Behind her Sakura could see the shadowed insides of the temple; mostly just support columns with the occasional statue of Buddha here and there, a long stretch of a hallway, and the another doorway opposite to the one she was standing in leading to a large staircase. In front of the sorceress was a relm of white light and falling pink flower peddles. Sakura tilted her head. She could sense a strange kind of pulling sensation coming from outside. It felt like something or someone was calling her.

Sakura walked foward into the rain of flowers and the area slowly shifted into a garden on the side of the sixth temple. The brunette had to wonder how she missed this place when she first visited Sanctuary. The garden was small and perfectly manicured. It surrounded a small slightly raised clearing where a pair of thin twin trees in full bloom stood. It was when she approuched the trees did she finally noticed him. Laying under the shade of the trees was an older man in white and gold Indian styled garb with a rosery looped twice around his neck. Sakura edged closer warily to look at the man. Even though he dressed like anyone from India, he certainly didn't look like he was from the country. His skin and long hair were too fair for it.

The brunette kneeled to study him. He was asleep, but he was restless and his rather handsome face was twisted in a look of discomfort. Such a thing did not sit well with the green eyed girl and her newly developed concern overrided her caution. Sakura reached out, hesitating when the older man twitched and groaned, and placed he hand on his forehead. He was sweating and he felt a little too warm for her liking. The sorceress frowned when she felt small shudders coming from the blond. Sakura picked up his head and manuvered to position herself where his head once was as she placed it on her lap

She watched the Indian man's shivering slowly subside as she stroked his hair. When his shaking ceased completely his eyes twitched but didn't open. Hs head tilted up to Sakura, as if to look at her.

"... La-Lady... A-Athena?.." he asked, his voice rasping slightly, as he slowly sat up. "...Wait, no, you're not Lady Athena." he corrected himself as he turned to face her.

"You know Athena-sama!" Sakura bounced with excitement where she sat.

The blond didn't answer but frowned and Sakura got the impression he was now glaring even with his eyes closed. "Who are you?" His voice's tone took up a slightly harder edge; not enough to sound threatening, but enough to show distrust.

Sakura smiled, brushing off his suspicion. "I'm Sakura, Kinomoto Sakura. Who are you?"

"... Gold Saint, Virgo Shaka."

Sakura stiffened visibly as her face began to lose color. "H-h-hooeee! G-Gold Saint?! B-but Shun-kun said the Gold Saints all d-d-died! " she studdered out in freight and she scooted back a few feet. "Yuurei! You're a yuurei!"

Shaka's eyebrows flew up as he followed her movement with closed eyes. "Shun? Adromeda Shun?" he asked, dismissing her accusion.

Sakura nodded frantically, backing up some more. "H-h-h-h-hoooeee!!" Sakura then dove behind one of the two trees, as if it was going to protect her. "I hate ghost!!"

The blond dismissed her statement and slowly approuched her. "Miss. Kinomoto?"

"Don't come near me, bakemono!" She tried to hide further behind the tree, which was useless since she was wider than said tree.

"I am not a ghost." he finally snapped out, tired of her running from him as if he was some kind of monster she claimed him to be. "I am very much alive."

Sakura gave Shaka a warry stare. "Honto, honto ni?"

The blond nodded. "Yes, really. I would not lie."

"But Shun-kun said you and the other Gold Saints died. He wouldn't lie either. So explain that!"

Shaka sat Indian styled and sighed. "What Shun told you was true, we did die. However," Shaka said when Sakura looked ready to squeal. "We were revived."

Sakura slowly came out of her 'hiding spot'. "You were? How?"

"Ares, he revived us not long ago."

In less than a heartbeat Sakura shot up to him, sitting diligently across from him with her legs tucked under her. Shaka idlely wondered if she had the seventh sense since she moved too fast to be normal. "Do you know anything about what Ares maybe doing?! I need to know! It's very important!"

Shaka crossed his arms. "I will tell you, but you must first tell me why does it concern you and how you know of Athena?"

Sakura took a deap breath and said, "He's after me." One of Shaka's eyebrows arched up questioningly so she continued, "Ares wants something from me. I think it might be my powers, but I'm not not 100 sure."

"What are these powers of yours?"

"You see, I'm a sorceress." Sakura said, growing very interested in her twiddling her fingers. Had she been looking up she would have seen Shaka eyebrows lift in surprise. "And a very powerful one too. I think he wants to take my magic from me. He's gone as far as turning some of my friends against me. Saori-san wants to protect me from him so she has the Saints following me around until we can put a stop to whatever Ares has planned."

Shaka slowly nodded. "I see."

"I've told you my story, now you have to tell me what you know."

The Virgo cleared his throat and began his tale. He told her that Ares somehow managed to revive all the Gold Saints and the Pope, at least to his knowledge anyway, that all of them were being held prisoners, about the ritual being preformed on them and how some of them didn't come back after a while. He even told her about what he had over heard from the guards; about the Soul Crytals of The Zodiac, the Way Stone, and the mentioned sorceress. "... during the ritual, it felt as if they were trying to tear out a part my very soul. The Soul Crystal of Virgo, I saw it coming out of me." Shaka placed a hand over his heart protectively. "I think... your magic may have something to do with our crystals and the Pope's Way Stone. Do you have any idea about what it could be?"

Sakura shook her head.

The blond sighed before tilting his head at her. He was studying her. Sakura got the impression that if he had his eyes open he would be staring at her. "What's wrong?"

Shaka gave a small chuckle. "Nothing, it's just, for some odd reason, I feel... so at ease, spiritually, here with you than anywhere else." The younger girl gave a 'Hoee' in question. "It's not the same kind of ease I feel when I was around Athena. It's like something inside me had been restless, almost parinoid, ever since I became the Virgo Saint, but your presence seems to quiet these feelings. I wonder why?"

The brunette nodded. "I kinda feel the same. It's like I feel a little better protected, less vunerable, even though I have both my guardians with me." Sakura scratched her cheek and continued. "A few days ago, when my cousin and one of my guardians, Tomoyo-chan and Kero-chan, went to Sanctuary with me, I was so giddy and nervous. I was excited... but when we went to meet Athana-sama we had to pass through these temples-"

"The twelve Houses of The Zodiac." was provided.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, those," She frowned in memory. "They felt so cold and lonely. I felt sad, dissapointed even. It got so bad I couldn't even go through them again on the way back. We had to find another way down the mountian."

The Saint nodded thoughtfully, pondering why he and the girl, Sakura, would feel such things. They were total strangers after all; he'd never met or heard of the girl across from him before. Shaka also had to wonder if the other Golds would share these feeling of protectiveness if they ever met her.

What he said to her was true after all. Ever since the first day he dawned the cloth of Virgo and felt its powers flooding into him and mix with his cosmos, he felt a sudden and unexplained amount of restless worry. He had an urge to rush out of Sanctuary and find... something! For an instant he felt like a hystarical parent worrying over their missing child. Shaka had squashed the urge almost as fast as it came, passing it off as impatience to meet Athena. When he finally did come to serve Athena that feeling lessend for a while but did not completely vanish. Then, just before Poseidon's and Hades' attacks, it came back with a vengence and just grew into a near paranoia that kept him up at night a few times and distracted him during his meditation. Shaka hated whatever he was feeling! It left him cranky for a while.

When the blond and the other Golds died, Shaka expeacted death to solve that irratating problem, and it had... for the most part. However, it came back again when they were reserected. But now, it was gone, mostly, it was less a raging feeling and more idle. Shaka had a feeling once this spiritual connection ended the worry would come back in full swing again until he was able to know she was physically fine.

Shaka made a note to talk to Dohko and Aiolos about this. That is, if they were still there when he got back to his body.

"Shaka-san!"

The blond looked at his young visiter when she sounded urgent. He could see the outline of her form grow misty. Shaka looked down at himself to see he was no different. They were both waking up and their time together was growing short.

"Shaka-san, please, if you can, tell me where Ares' temple is!" Sakura implored, knowing she was about to leave any minute. "We'll come rescue you and the others!"

"I'm sorry, but I do not know." Sakura deflated at his words. "But I might be able to provide you with something useful." Sakura perked and Shaka held out his hand. "I can give you a mental map of his temple."

The sorceress gave a confused look as she took the offered hand. "What good will that-" Sakura was suddenly cut off when a rush of images invaded her mind. She saw rooms and corridors, prowling guards and priests, armories, Cellas, and the dungeons speed by so fast Sakura had to wonder how she managed to get good looks at it all. The one thing strange that Sakura found the layout of the temple was that it practically mirrored Athena's in Sanctuary with only a few differences like that it was a floor taller, that it was longer, and it had a sub level.

The images stopped abruptly at a pair of large marble doors which glowed faintly with red cosmos. Sakura tumbled backwards when she released Shaka's hand. The experience left her reeling. Now she knew what an overloading computer feels like.

Shaka 'looked' down at the girl with a raised eyebrow.

"...ho-oee..." Green eyes swirled dizzily.

Shaka allowed an amused smirk grace his face as they both began to fade into the world of the waking. "If you manage to find Ares' temple, that map will help. Also, and please listen carefully, for what I'm going to say is important." he said in all seriousness, making her give her immediate attention. "Go to the archives in Lady Athena's temple, in the back is a section of tomes and scrolls on legends, there should be a large book sitting all by itself with a star and the zodiac symbols on its cover. We Gold Saints believe there may be a clue as to what Ares is trying to do. Understand?"

"Hai!"

The blond gave a relieved nod. He and Sakura had both more than halfway faded out of sight now. "I hope we meet again, Miss. Kinomoto."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, me too. I'll come find you and the other Gold Saints and reunite you with Athena-sama, Shaka-san. I promise."

Intense blue orbs slide open and stared into determined green ones as Shaka said, "I will hold you to that, but come quickly, I do not know how much more of that ritual I can take. ...Good luck." and with that the man disappeared.

"Thanks." the sorceress smiled as she too vanished, the temple and garden disappearing after them.

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**Well now, chapter 15 is done! Kinda short, I know, but hey it's meant to be. It took me a while to try to find a decent ending so there it is. Here, my wonderful readers is where the good chapters start. Now that we have a better idea of what's going on, I am so ready to start causing chaos for our innocent little main characters. Well, I'll update as soon as I can so ya'll just have to review. Ja!**

_**Japanese 101**_

**Yurei/yuurei: Ghost**

**Bakemono: An evil/mischevious spirit ( usually that of a fox, cat, or raccoon dog ) according to Japanese foklore**

**Honto, Honto Ni: Really, really**


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